our Prophet saith in the next words If thou deale thy bread to the hungrie then shall thy light breake forth as the morning and thy health shall grovve speedily For his Ciuill estate that is reputation and honour Learning and Valour are the vertues for which a man is most admired but humblenesse and bountifulnesse are the vertues for which a man is best beloued The loynes of the naked blesse him and the tongues of the poore praise him and the hearts of all men honour him his memoriall is blessed and had in an euerlasting remembrance sweet as hony in all mouthes and pleasant in all eares as musicke at a banquet of wine For this Spirituall estate the dealing of bread to hungry soules is acceptable to God for his almes ascend and come vp in remembrance before God Act. 10. 4. Where that he hath done faithfully to the least of Christes little ones shall be Construed as done to Christ himselfe and it is very comfortable to himselfe also which occasioned the blessed Martyr Tyndall to terme monday and Saturday which he vsually spent in visiting the sicke and relieuing the poore his owne dayes of pastime an happy recreation as Ambrose speakes in alieno remedio Vulnera sua curare To benefit our selues by helping other For his eternall estate the poore man is the Mercurit saith our Church set by God in the way to Hierusalem aboue whosoeuer will go thither must goe by his doore pointing at the path of Paradise directly Hee that Couers the naked shall put on Christ and bee Clothed with the long white robes of righteousnes couering all his sin hee that bringes the poore Cast-out into his house shall be receiued into euerlasting habitation he that hides not himselfe from his owne flesh shall enioy the presence of Christ and see God face to face He that deales bread to the hungry shal be satisfied with the plenteousnes of Gods house drinking of heauenly delights as out of the riuer he shal haue for a cup of Cold water which is the least almes a Crowne of glory which is the greatest of rewardes euen fulnesse of Ioyes and pleasures at Gods right hand for euermore GEN. 1. 26. And God sayd let vs make man in our Image after our owne likenesse THe Scripture considers man in a fourefold estate the first of his confection as being in his originall integrity created according to Gods owne likenesse The 2. of his infection as hauing by sinne defaced this imprinted Image The 3. of his refection as being renewed againe by Christ which is the brightnesse of Gods glory and expresse Character of his person The 4. of his perfection in the Kingdome of glory when he shall enioy Gods presence seeing him as the blessed Apostle speakes euen face to face Our present text is a briefe Chronicle reporting his first estate namely the creation of man wherein two poyntes are to be discussed especially 1. The mystery of the most high and sacred Trinity creating 2. The dignity of man Created The first is closely couched vnder these two words faciamus and Imago let vs make in the plural number noting the Trinity but in the singular Image not Images noting the vnitie the word our imports moe then one the word likenesse one and no moe this then in the Iudgement of all orthodoxe Diuines is meant of the three in heauen the Father the Word the Holy Spirit which three are one 1. Iohn 5. 7. Hereupon elswhere termed according to the Hebrew phrase God our makers Iob. 35. 10. psal 149. 2. Esay 54 5. and Eccle. 12. 1. Remember thy Creators in the dayes of thy youth If this note seeme to be forced and vnkind beside the streame of all antiquitie there be manifest and manifold reasons euidently demonstrating the same 1. Man is the workemanship of the whole Trinity Ergo these wordes of God let vs make concern the whole Trinity the antecedent is indeniable because opera Trinitatis quoad extra sunt cōmunicabilia that is all the works of the Trinity without it selfe are communicable the workes of the Trinity within it selfe are incommunicable So God the father is sayd only to beget God the sonne to bee begotten and God the holy Ghost to proceed but all the workes of the Trinitie without it selfe are common vnto three persons and therefore Moses saith in the beginning of this chapter according to the wordes originall in principio dij creauit intimating the creation of the world to bee the worke of the whole Trinitie Creauit dij three persons but one God It is bad latine yet good diuinitie for God the sonne did create so well as God the father Iohn 1. 3. by him al things were made and God the holy Ghost also aswell as God the sonne for the spirit moued vpon the waters Gen. 1. 2. where by spirit we neither vnderstand an Angel which is Caietans idle phansie nor yet the winde as Tertullian and Dauid Kimchi conceited nor the piercing aire as Theodorete imagined but it was Gods owne spirit whereby the creatures were fostered and formed Iob. 26. 13. His spirit hath garnished the heauens and so diuines ascribe the work of creation in the masse of the matter vnto God the father In the disposition of the forme vnto God the sonne in the continuance and conseruation of both vnto God the holy spirit the consultation or rather agreement in saying let vs make man is of the whole trinitie wherein God the father as the first in order speaketh vnto the sonne and holy Ghost and the sonne and the holy Ghost speake it and order it with the father the which because it is written for mans instruction is also spoken after the manner of men 2. To whom I pray sayd God let vs make man If not to God the son and holy Ghost vnto some Demi-gods as Philo Iudaus a scholler of Plato most absurdly coniectured or because the workes and actions of men are partly good and partly bad that God he spake to some Cacodamon as the Manichees impiously dreamed refering the making of that which is good vnto God but the making of that which is bad vnto some badspirit Ista referre est refellere the very repetition of these fantasies is a sufficient confutation of them vnto you who know that all which God made was good yea very good and that God in the beginning made man righteous but they haue sought many inuentions Eccl. 7. 31. Or did God speake this in the plurall after the maner of great Princes only for his honour Nos Radulphus Romanus Imperator mandamus As some Iewes haue fondly construed it nb vcb vbi Answere is made that the stately stile Nos is not ancient at the least not so gray headed and Christian interpreters obserue from Aben Ezra who was himselfe a Iew That the Scripture doth not afford such an example of any King
prize of â—…he Kingdome of England after long and equall combat finding each others worth and valour they cast away their weapons embraced and concluded a peace putting on each others apparell and armes as a ceremony to expresse the attonement of their minds as if they made transaction of their persons one to the other Canutus being Edmund and Edmund Canutus Our iniquities had made a separation betweene God and vs Esay 59 2. And in this warre as the Scripture speakes God did fight against vs and we were his enemies Now Christ our Make-peace did end this quarrell and that was by putting on our clothes and by giuing vs his clothes he tooke vpon him our flesh and in his body did beare our sinnes and wee by faithes hand put on Christ and the long robe of his righteousnes so the Church sings I am my beloueds and my welbeloued is mine Christ and we being married as S. Paul teacheth Ephes. 5. are but one flesh and as it were but one person in law for Christ in taking our nature vpon him is flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone substantially and we likewise by putting him on vs are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone spiritually so that our sinnes are his sinnes and his righteousnesse our righteousnesse Iere. 23 6. The Lord our righteousnesse Psal. 4. 1. O God which art my righteousnesse Being iustified then by faith wee haue peace towards God through our Lord Iesus Christ and this peace is a pleasure that passeth all vnderstanding sinne makes a trembling and heauy heart but assurance that our sinnes are forgiuen in Christ is the rest of our soule making vs like Diues euery day faring deliciously 3 One day spent in the courts of the Lord is better then a thousand in respect of honour Caesar sayd he had rather be the first in a countrey village then the second in Rome though it were then esteemed the worlds Epitome but our Prophet desires rather to bee a doore-keeper in Gods house then to command in the tents of vngodlinesse of the meanest account in the one then of highest honour in the other as one glosseth it I had rather be a Clauiger a subiect yea abeict sitting at the very threshold in the Courts of the Lord then to be a steptrifer Mahumet the great or Soliman the Magnificent in the tents of infidelity So Moses refused to be called the sonne of Pharaohs daughter and chose rather to suffer aduersitie with Gods people So Daniel esteemed the Lyons den better then Darius Pallace So the three children aduentured to meete heauen in the hell of a fiery furnace so the renowned Emperour Theodosius more reioyced in that hee was a member of the Church then head of the State So the blessed Saints in the dayes of Queene Mary desired rather to be pilgrimes among the reformed Churches abroad then Prelats in the kingdome of Antichrist at home To serue God is perfit freedome as diuine Plato determined iudiciously Goodnesse is not in greatnesse but on the contrary Greatnesse is in goodnesse A great Lord conuicted of treason against his Soueraigne hath his blood attaynted himselfe and his posterity disgentred vntill they be restored in blood Adam in Paradise commiâ—…ted high treason against the King of heauen and earth and in him all of vs haue sinned and so by consequent our blood is attainted till it be restored againe by Christ who loued vs and washed vs from our sins in his blood As good Queene Elinor sucked the venome out of the wound giuen her husband Edward the first by an Assassine with a poysoned weapon So Christ our husband hath expelled the poyson out of our woundes inflicted by the deuill our aduersary who was a murtherer from the beginning euery christian then as hauing his woundes healed and his blood purged is a gentleman and the best christian is the best gentleman according to the scripture teaching vs that the men of Berea who receiued the word with all readinesse were more noble then they of Thessalonica The burgesses of Gods city bee not of base Linage but truly Noble For by their second birth all of them are the sonnes of God and the Church is their Mother and Christ their Brother and the Holy Ghost their Tntor Angels their attendants Heb. 1. 14. all other creatures their subiects Psal. 8. 6. The whole world their Inne 1. Pet. 2. 11. and heauen their Home Iohn 14. 2. Fauours of Princes serue sometime more for the benefit of those that giue them then for the profit of those that receiue them and the best honour an earthly Prince can conferre vpon his chiefe fauorite is to make him a Viceroy in some part of his Empire but Christ which is the King of glory maketh all his followers Kings vnto God his father Apoc 1. 6. Kings because God reigneth in vs and because through his sanctifying grace we haue dominion ouer our concupiscenses not suffering sinne to reigne in our mortall bodies and we are not only Viceroyes ouer one prouince but in this respect Lords ouer the whole world more then conquerours a great deale greater then William the Conquerour or Alexander the great or the great Turke for whereas they conquered in many yeres a few parts of the world Hee that is borne of God ouercommeth in one houre with one act all the pompe of the world and all the power of hell also It is but Caesars Veni vidi vici this is the victory that ouercommeth the world euen our faith 1. Iohn 5. 4. The difference betweene the christians honour and the worldlings honour is very plaine The kings daughter is all glorious within Psal. 45. 14. But the worldlings is all glorious without now the Phylosopher hath taught truly That ciuill honour is not in the power of the person honored but in the power of the person honouring and therefore the worldlings glory depending vpon the breath of vaine men and possession of vaine matters is altogether vncertaine But the Christians dignity which is within hauing done good in Israel and toward God and his house cannot be taken away but it flourisheth and remaineth for euer Psal. 112. 9. For conclusion of all I say to you all in briefe that this Doctrine should encourage vs diligently to visit the Temple which is Gods house the Palace where his Holinesse more specially resides Heretofore Hierusalems Temple was instar parochiae sayth Hospinian as a great parish So now euery Parochiall Church is instar templl where God is to be worshipped in the publique congregation and dutifully to honour his anoynted Kings and Princes which are the chiefe gouernours of his house and reuerently to respect his Clergie Bishops Pastors and Curates which are the disposers of his secrets and stewards of his house and cheerefully to delight in his Saints which are the domesticall and
his merite Luke 18. For blessed is the man that feareth alway but hee that trusteth in his owne heart is a foole Prouerbs 28. 26. Seeke not to the strength of your owne purse doe not sacrifice to your owne net make not gold your hope saying to the wedge of gold thou art my confidence for riches auaile not in the day of wrath noâ—… helpe in the time of vengeance Seeke not to the blessed spirits of iust men in heauen for Abraham is ignorant of vs and Israel knoweth vs not Esay 63. 16. They doe not vnderstand our wants in particular howsoeuer vndoubtedly solicitous for our good in generall grant they did clearely see what we lacke and that they be so well able as willing to helpe yet because the Scriptures afford neither precept nor promise nor paterne for inuocation in this kind seeking to the dead saints is an open iniurie to the liuing God at the best it is wil-worship at the worst adoring of old saints is an adopting of new sauiours To summe vp all in a word with our Prophet in the 73 Psalme verse 14. Whom haue I in heauen but thee and there is none vpon earth that I desire in comparison of thee all other hopes and helpes are miserable comforters in respect of thee which art a present helpe in trouble vnder the shadow of thy wings will I reioyce my soule hangeth vpon thee mine eyes are euer looking vnto thee to the throne of grace will I goe boldly that I may find mercy thou Lord art my strength and onely refuge thy face will I seeke euermore Hugo Cardinalis vnderstandeth here by Gods face that happinesse which is euerlasting in heauen They who seeke for Gods temperall blessings onely seeke his hinder parts as it were but they who first seeke the kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof are sayd to seeke his priora because potiora the multitude who followed Christ in the 6. of S. Iohn for loaues and not for loue sought Gods hinder parts only but the blessed Apostle who sayd I forget that which is behind and endeauour my selfe vnto that which is before following hard toward the marke for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesu sought Gods face euermore Temporall goods as riches and honour are the blessings of Gods left hand but length of dayes that is euerlasting life the blessings of his right hand Prouer. 3 16. New creatures in Christ and new men are like the new Moone when the Moone decreaseth it is close aboue open below but when it increaseth it is open aboue close beneath euen so beloued if our mindes as nature framed our hearts are close downeward vsing the world as if wee vsed it not and enlarged vpward in seeking the things aboue then as S. Paul speakes our conuersation is in heauen and as Dauid here we seeke Gods face for euermore Arnobius and diuers moe by Gods face doe vnderstand Christ Iesus as being the brightnesse of Gods glorie and expresse character of his person Heb. 1. 3. And as our Prophet Psalm 67. vers 1. The light of his countenance God is manifested in his sonne as a man is knowen by his face for no man saith our Lord commeth vnto the Father but by me Iohn 14. 6. I am the way the trueth and the life non est quà eas nisi per me non est quò eas nisi ad me as Augustine sweetely Christ is the beginning of blessed and heauenly vision and therefore the way the meane and therefore the trueth the end and therefore the life No man knowes the Father saue the Sonne and to whomsoeuer the Sonne will open him It is true that we may see Gods hinder parts by the light of nature for the power of God is manifested in the creation of the world the heauens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke but we cannot see Gods face that is the most vnsearchable riches of his mercy but in by his Son only none know the Father that is a distinction of the Persons in the Sacred Trinity but by the reuelation of God the Sonne in whom are hid all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge Coloss. 2. 3. Or none know that God is their Father but by the spirit of the Sonne crying in our hearts Abba Father Galat. 4. 6. Wee speake the wisdome of God in a mysterie quoth Paul which none of the Princes of this world knew Hoc magnus Plato nesciuit eloquens Demosthenes ignorauit saith Hierome deepe Plato was altogether ignorant eloquent Demosthenes was vtterly silent in this argument they being secretaries of nature groped after God and found out also so much of him as may serue to condemne them but wee blessed are the eyes that see the things which we see seeking God in his Sonne in whom he is well pleased vnfainedly beleeue that he is our Father and that we are his children and further his heires euen heires annexed with Christ in his kingdome of glorie Rom. 8. verse 16. 17. The Turke seekes not God aright for that he seekes him in Mahumet the Iew seekes not God aright for that he seekes him in a Messias which is yet to come the Popeling seekes not aright for that he seekes him in moe Mediatours then one the Hereticke destroying either the natures of Christ or offices of Christ seekes not God aright the carnall Gospeller and worldling seekes not God aright for although he professe Christ in word yet in his workes he denieth him and the power of his Gospel as Augustine pithily the difference betweene an Hereticke and a bad Catholicke is briefly this the one is an Hereticke in his faith and the other is an Hereticke in his manners Lord shew vs the light of thy countenance that is indue vs with true knowledge of thy word and with a liâ—…ely faith in thy Sonne which is thine owne Image that so wee may seeke thy strength and see thy face euermore It is euident by the first of the Chronicles 16. Chap. That Dauid was authour of this Hymne and that it was indited for Asaph to be sung when the Lordes Arke was placed in the mids of the Tabernacle that Dauid had pitched for it and therefore most expositours interpret here Gods face to be Gods Arke by which hee declared his poweâ—… and presence fauour and goodnes toward his people So we read 2 Chron 6. 41. Psal. 63. 3. Psal. 78. 61. Psal. 132. 1. Arise O Lord into thy resting place thâ—… and the Arke of thy strength The like is sayd of Gods holy Temple that it was his house Esay 56. 7. His amiable dwelling place Psal. 84. 1 Yea the very chamber of his presence Psal. 95. 2. Let vs come before his presence with thankesgiuing And they who worshipped in the Courts of the Lord are sayd to stand and appeare before him as Deut. 16. 16. Three times in the yeere shall all
of Condoling woe and shall be free from Condemning though our spirituall enemies are stronger and our greiuous sinnes are greater then wee yet as God said to Rebecca the greater shall serue the lesser In Christ all thiâ—…gs are ours and all things quoth Paul euen Sin it selfe quoth Augustine euen the Deuill himselfe quoth Luther worke together for our good yea for the best if we loue God in his Christ. Heale vs thenô Lord and wee shall be healed saue vs and we shall be saued Deliuer vs from eternall woe that we may bee blessed with euerlasting happinesse in thy kingdome of glory where wee shall euer be sure to be free from sorrow because free from sin Ceasing to draw iniquity with cordes of vanity and sin as it were with cart-ropes ESAY 41. 14. Feare not worme Iacob c. CHrist is Alpha and Omega Reu. 1. 8. As Esay speakes in this Chap. at the 4. verse the first and the last and that vnto vs as well as in himselfe being yesterday and to day and the same for euer Heb. 13. 8. And therefore the Church allots a proper Scripture for euery Sunday throughout the whole yeare begins and ends her deuout seruice with the comming of Christ. For the first sentence declared in the Gospell appointed for the first Sunday is behold thy King commeth vnto thee And the conclusion of the last Gospell on the last Sunday this of a truth is the same Prophet that should come into the world which occasioned Petrus Machado to terme this order annulus Christianus as it were the Christians round or ring So the Church in obseruing this high and holy time makes the birth of our Lord and appurtenances of the same the first and the last obiect of all her solemne deuotions other holy dayes in deed come between the feasts of his Natiuity Circumcision and Epiphany but all of them are called Christmas dedicated onely to Christs honour and the reason as some coniecture why Saint Stephen and Saint Iohn and the blessed Innocents are mentioned aboue the rest of the Saints is to shew that Christ came into the world to saue men of all sorts of whatsoeuer degree the Chiualrie represented by Saint Stephen a resolute Knight and warriour in the Lords battaile The Clergie represented by S. Iohn stiled the Diuine The Commonaltie or Infantrie represented by the children Herod slew Or intimating that Christ was borne for men of euery seueral age for men of perfect strength as Saint Stephen For old men on their Crouches as Saint Iohn who liued after Christ was dead as Hierom reports in his life 68. yeeres being as Baronius avoweth at his dying houre 106. yeeres old Lastly for Infants in their Cradles as the blessed Innocents Or it may bee these Saints are honourably remembred at Christmas rather then other because Christ saith if any will follow me let him forsake himselfe take vp his Crosse Mat. 16. 24. The seruant is not greater then his Master if they haue persecuted me they will persecute you also Ioh. 15. 20. Now Bernard other Doctours say there bee 3. kinds of suffering or martyrdome in Christs cause The 1. In will in act as that of Saint Stephen the 2. In will but not in act as that of Saint Iohn the third in act but not in will as that of the Bethelemitish Innocents And so Christ as it is sayd Cant. 5. 10. Is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousand as one featly but I censure not hovv featly Candidus in Iohanne rubicundus in Stephano electus ex millibus in Innocentibus This Scripture then is chosen aptly for a Christmas Sunday promising that in type which wee now see performed in truth namely that Christ our Lord is the deliuerer of Sion out of her Captiuity the Comforter abettor strength helper in a word the redeemer of his people from the hands of all their enemies from the bands of all her sinnes In this verse which is Capitulum Capitis as it were the Chapters abridgment two points are to be considered especially 1. The weaknesse of the Church in respect of her selfe as being a worme and as a dead man 2. The strength of the Church in respect of her Sauiour saying feare not I will helpe thee this I haue sayd and this I will haue done being powerfull and able because the Lord pittifull and willing because thy redeemer faithfull and true because the holy one of Israel The Lord calleth elsewhere Iacob his chosen Israel his possession Iuda his Sanctuary Israel his dominion an holy Nation a Kingdome of Priests an holy tree springing of an holy root a people peculiar to himselfe enclosed as it were from the Commons of the whole world But heere considering their present affection and miserable condition vnder Captiuity hee takes a better course with them in omitting these glorious titles and comparing them vnto wormes and men that are dead for this he shewes more That he greatly cares for them although they seeme most abiect in the worlds eye Feare not I am with thee be not affrayd I am thy God I will strengthen thee and helpe thee and sustaine thee with the right hand of my iustice Howsoeuer now thou beest nothing yet I wil so succour thee that all the men of thy strife shall be confounded ashamed perish and come themselues to nothing Behold I will make thee a roller and a new threshing instrument hauing teeth and so thou shalt thresh the mountaines and grind them to powder and make the hills as chaffe A word spoken in his place saith Salomon is like aples of gold with pictures of siluer He therefore which is set apart for the gathering together of the Saints and the worke of the ministrie must as St. Paul exhorts diuide the word of truth aright He must as the Baptist in preparing way for his Lord exalt the vallyes and make the mountaines low Men are made mountaines two wayes either assuming too much vnto themselues out of their owne merit or else presuming too much vpon Gods mercy and on the contrarie men are vallyes in contemplating their great faults and little faith humbled in their sin and in their suffering for sin And therefore the man of God ought to digg downe Mountaines by denouncing Iudgments and to raise vallyes by pronouncing mercy He must as Ambrose sayd bee like a Bee applying the I awes sting to the proud in heart but the Gospells honie to the poore in Spirit It is written in the Law that if a man goeth vnto the wood with his neighbour to hew wood and his hand strikes with the axe to cut downe the tree If the head slip from the helme and hit his neighbour that he dye the same shall flie to one of the Cities appoynted for refuge and liue Such as handle the word indiscreetly without any distinction of times or places or persons or circumstances of sin makes the head
Bernard out of that text reasoned thus with an Archbishop in France Let euery soule be subiect Ergo yours I pray who doth exempt you Bishops â—…i quiâ—… tentat excipere conatur decipere So Chrysostome Theodoret Oecumen Theophilact vpon the place Clergie men are not excepted Ergo not exempted Concerning causes Ecclesiasticall it is auowed and prooued by Protestant Diuines that a King and euery other supreame gouernour is Custos vtriusque tabulae the Lord-Keeper of both tables of Gods Law that wee may lead vnder him a quiet and a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty We doe not imagine this of our owne heads we find it annexed vnto the Crowne by God himselfe who when he first gaue his people leaue to chuse them a King withall appoynted that the Law truly coppied out of the Leuites originall which was keptin the Tabernacle should be deliuered vnto the King sitting on his Royal seat with this Charge that booke shall remaine with the King hee shall read in it all the dayes of his life that hee may learne to feare the Lord his God obserue all the words of the Law written therein and these statutes to doe them This was not done till hee was placed in his throne so saith the text therefore this touched not the Kings priuate conuersation as a man but his Princely function as a Magistrate which stands in commanding other and not in guiding his owne person as a man he serues God one way sayth Augustine as a King another way as a man in ordering well his own life but as a King in seeing that other liue soberly toward themselues righteously toward their neighbours holily toward God So that Kings as Kings serue God in doing that for his seruice which none but Kings can do Well then if the whole Law were committed to the King as King at his Coronation It is plaine that the publishing preseruing and executing of the first table touching the sincere worship of God is the chiefe part of the Princes Charge And according to this commission and authority the godly Kings of Israel and Iudah remoued Idols razed hill alters slew false Prophets purged the land from all abominations not sparing the brazen serpent made by Moses wheÌ„ they saw it abused and by the same power they caused the Temple to be cleansed the Law to bee read the Passeouer to be kept the Leuites to Minister in their courses inuented by Dauid and by the same power Solomon deposed Abiather the chiefe Priest and set Zadock in his roome And of the Christian Church it is sayd Esay 49. 23. Kings shall bee thy nursing Fathers and Queenes thy nursing mothers And it is apparant that Constantine Iustinian Charles the great and many moe religious Princes enacted Ecclesiasticall lawes and were super-visors of the Bishops in their seuerall Empires For although a King may not administer the Sacraments or preach the word or execute the Ministers office de facto Yet as our diuines haue determined it belongs to the Kings cure de iure to see that all things concerning Gods holy worship should bee done in the Church orderly vos intra sayd Constantine the great to his Bishops ego autem extra ecclesiam à Deo Episcopus constitutus sum The last enemies vnto ciuill Magistrates are such as arme themselues and stand in actuall rebellion against authority For whatsoeuer faire pretence of doing good traytors may seeme to haue the State doubtlesse is in a miserable case when as commotioners are become commissioners and coÌ„mon woe named common wealth and a Ket obeyed more then a King Rebels are like a Bile in a body or like a sinke in a rowne gathering together all the nastie vagabonds and idle loyterers to warre with almighty God and his lieurenants and so being a beast of many heads they place treason aboue reason and make might to rule right If thy gouernour bee good vse him as thy nursing Father If bad commanding as a Tyrant that which is euill simply take vp against him a buckler and not a sword obey ferendo non feriendo suffering the payne not resisting the power impetere or competere are both vnlawfull albeit Kings deface in themselues Gods first Image in their owne soules yet no man hath leaue to deface Gods second Image imprinted in their name iudelibly Hitherto touching the Magistrates authority now for his vtilitie For thy good Higher powers are protectours of Gods Church ordeined for our temporall good and spirituall good and so consequently for our eternall good all which our Apostle sheweth in his 1. Epist to Timothie Chap. 2. verse 2. Pray for Kings and for all in authority that wee may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty our temporal good consists in a quiet and a peaceable life our spirituall good in godlinesse and honesty so that Magistrates are called of God to be Iustices of the peace for our temporall good and defenders of the faith for our spirituall good Concerning the first holy writ mentioneth a two-fold peace to wit an inward peace which is the peace of conscience proper onely to the Church and not commonicable to the world for there is no peace to the wicked saith my God and an outward peace which is common vnto both and therfore the Lord sayd to his people whom Nabuchodonosor had carried away captiue from Hierusalem to Babel seeke the prosperity of the city whither I haue caused you to bee carried away captiue pray for it for in the peace therof you shal haue peace This owtward peace may bee disturbed either by Domesticall enemies or by forreine foes as our Apostle sayd in another case fighting without and terrours within In respect of intestine iarres vnder the gouernment of Princes we lead a life a life which is quiet and in respect of forreine wars vnder the gouernment of Princes wee lead a life which is peaceable a Prince protects the persons of his subiects from murtherers and the goods of his subiects from theeues and the good name of his subiects from liâ—…ellers and slanderers hee beares not the sword for nought but is the Minister of God to take vengeance on such as are disturbers of his subiects quiet a-against his Crowne and Dignity Now that a Christian Magistrate may put to death a traytor a murtherer and other notorious offenders we proue first by the Scriptures secondly by the Fathers and thirdly by reason The Scriptures afford precepts and examples hereof afore the Law vnder the Law and after the Law before the Law Gen 9. 6. Who so sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed The which is not a meere Prophecy that euery murtherer should come to mischiefe but a plaine precept that the Magistrate being armed by Gods authority must execute such a bloody malefactor And we read a patterne hereof in the 38. of Gen verse 24. Iuda sayd bring her
the males appeare before the Lord thy God and Exâ—… 23. 15. None shall appeare before me empty The meaning then of Dauid is plaine that the seed of Abraham the children of Iacob should giue thankes vnto the Lord and call vpon his Name tell his wonderous workes make songs of him and prayse him and seeke his strength in that holy place which himselfe hath appoynted euen where his Arke rested and resided As if hee should haue sayd goe not to Baal-Zebub the God of Ekron goe not to the calfe in Samaria seeke not to Bethel enter not into Gilgal goe not to Beer-sheba but seeke the Lord and ye shall liue seeke him while hee may bee found and where he may be found run not a whoring after your owne inuentions doe not serue him according to your owne voluntary religion and priuat spirit but let his holy word be a lanterne to your feete and a guide to your pathes euermore seeke him and his strength in his Tabernacle where he sheweth his fauour and face to Abraham his seruant to Iacob his chosen The ceremonies of Moses in their beginning were Mortales as being to continue but for a time when once Christ appeared in the fulnesse of time they were Mortuâ—… being only shadowes as S. Paul speakes of good things to come but now since the sound of Christes holy Gospel is gone throughout all the earth euen vnto the ends of the world they be mortiferae not only dead but also deadly so buried and abolished that they must neuer be raysed vp againe in the Church of God Legalia saith Augustine ante passionem Christi viua statim pòst mortua hodie sepulta Christ is the end of the Law not only of the morall in fulfilling all righteousnesse or of the Iudicial in satisfying Gods Iustice for vs but of the ceremoniall also giuing himselfe for vs to be both an offering and a sacrifice of a sweete smelling sauour to God of which all the legall offerings and sacrifices were types and figures Here then is a question asked seeing we haue neither such an Arke nor such a Tabernacle nor such a Temple as the Iewes had vnder the Law where shall we now seeke the strength of the Lord and his face Answere is made that albeit the houre is come foretold by Christ vnto the woman of Samaria that the seed of Abraham according to the Spirit doe not adore God at Hierusalem or vpon his Holy mountaine yet they worship him in his Church of which Hierusalem was a type the which is called expresly Gods house wherein his Honour delights to dwell and in the ministration of his blessed word and Sacraments hee sheweth vs the light of his countenance more clearely then vnder the ceremonies of Moses for in our prayers we confidently speake vnto him and in the word preached and read hee plainly speaketh vnto vs in both If we seeke we may see his face frequent then his house when it is the houre of prayer frequent then his house when it is the houre of preaching take heed that yee doe not neglect so great saluation hee that reiecteth these things reiects not man but God I beseech you suffer the wordes of exhortation and doctrine despise noâ—… Prophecying despise not I say the riches of his bountifulnesse and patience reuerence his blessed ordinances abhorre not his heauenly Manna quench not his spirit turne not O turne not his graces into contention and wantonnesse lest he hide his face from vs in his sore displeasure remoouing his golden Candlesticks from our Church and giuing his Gospell vnto some other people who will bring foorth better fruits of the same The Papists haue gods of lead and gods of bread but the faces of these gods as our Prophet telleth vs in the 115. Psalm haue mouthes and speake not eyes and see not noses and smell not neither speake they through their throat they that make them are like vnto them and so are all such as put their trust in them Images as they teach are the Laymens Gospel a wodden block is to them instead of the written booke they see their makers face better in a pulpit then out of the pulpit Beloued be not deceiued God is not mocked If yee seeke his strength and his face goe to his Law and his Testimony yee may behold a liuely Crucifix in the Scripture for what is the Center of the whole Bibles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but onely this one poynt Christ 〈◊〉 Ye may behold in each Sacrament a liuely Crucifix for the blessed Communion is a commemoration of Christs death vntill his comming 1. Cor. 11. 26. And sacred baptisme saith Aquinus is a Commemoration of Christs Passion which is past a Demonstration of his grace which is present and a Prognostication of his glory which is to come Yee may likewise behold a liuely Crucifix in the Churches Liturgie framed according to the tenour of Gods owne Spirit forasmuch as our prayers contemplate God the Father in his Sonne begun in his Name bounded vpon his nature concluded with his Merits as our onely Mediatour and Aduocate When the parents of Christ had lost him at the feast of the Passeouer and sought him in many places in fine they found him at Hierusalem in the Temple So when your soule longeth after God and is athirst for his presence Come to the Church and sav with our Prophet Psal. 27. 9. Thy face Lord will I seeke It is reported of Cain Gen. 4. 16. That he went out from the presence or from the face of Iehoua As Gods face signifieth his all seeing prouidence none can flie from it Ieremie 23. 24 Can any hide himselfe in secret places that I who â—…ill heauen and earth shall not see him saith the Lord The meaning of that text then is happily that Cain went out from the place of Gods word and publique worship For Adam his father being a Prophet as it is probable had taught his children how to sacrifice and serue the Lord On the contrary to come before God in 1. Chron. 16. 29. is explained Psal. 96. 8. To be comming into his courts and worshipping in his Sanctuary When our backs are turned toward the Temple no wonder if God turne his face from vs and absent himselfe in displeasure But if wee serue the Lord with gladnesse and enter into his gates with thankesgiuing If our songs are of him and our hearts reioyce in his holy Name when we remember the marueilous workes that hee hath done his wonders the iudgments of his mouth when one day spent in his Courts is accounted better then a thousand in the tents of vngodlines when wee search earnestly for him in the Scriptures and in the publique Ministry thereof his ordinary power to saluation and the strength of his arme Then as it is sayd in our text wee seeke him and his forces and his fauour and his face euermore There is a fift exposition of these words and that is of
S. Augustine and of Franciscus Arias in his tract Depraesentia Dei cap 2. Who by Gods face vnderstand Gods presence So the Scripture by the face of the wind and by the face of frost and fire meaneth as you know the presence of these things as in Psalme 68. Like as waxe melteth ante faciem ignis before the fires face So let the vngodly perish at the presence of God So Hagar is sayd to flee from the face of her mistresse Sara Gen. 16. 8 So Pharaoh to Moses Exod. 10. 28. Get thee from mee Looke thou see my face no more So Adam is sayd to hide himselfe from Gods face Gen. 3. 8. and Satan Iob 1. 12. Egressus est à facie Domini that is he departed from Gods presence to seeke then euermore Gods face is nothing else but seriously to consider and contemplate that he is alwayes present with vs in euery thought word and deed Plutarch aduiseth vs so circumspectly to demeane our selues as if â—…r enemies alwayes beheld vs Seneca counselleth vs to liue so well as if Cato Laelius or some reuerend Person of great wisdome and account ouerlooked vs Thalis Milesius in the coÌ„mitting of any sin wished vs when we are alone to be afraid of our selues and of our owne conscience which is in stead of a thousand witnesses te sine teste time saith Ausonius S. Paul exhorteth women to cary themselues in Gods house reuerently because of the Angels as being assured that the glorious Angels in heauen obserue their behauiour But our text teacheth vs yet a better way then all these which is to seeke Gods face to remember that God searcheth vs out knowing our downe-sitting and our vprising and that he standeth about our paths and about our beds and spieth out all our wayes A pious exercise highly commended in the Scriptures and in the Fathers and by the practise of holy men in all ages The Scriptures in reporting that Enoch and Noe walked with God intimate that those holy Patriarchs had set God alwayes before them and that they liued so religiously tanquam sub eius oculis as vnder his obseruing and all-seeing eye they walked as St. Luke recordeth of Zacharias and Elizabeth in all the commandements and ordinances of the Lord without reproofe they considered the wayes of God and turned their feete vnto his Testimonies as our Prophet speaks of himselfe Psal. 119. 59. They did endeauour and set their hearts to haue not only good credit before men but alâ—… with S. Paul to keepe a cleare conscience before God In this sense God sayd to Father Abraham walke before mee Gen. 17. 1. And Abraham againe concerning God the Lord before whom I walke Gen. 24. 40. So the Prophet Elias and Eliseus speake The Lord God in whose sight â—… stand The text inioyning vs always to pray poynts at this duty that wee should seeke Gods face continually for our desires and thoughts are the voyces and wordes by which our soule speakes If then at any time wee lift our hearts vnto the Lord wee may be sayd and that truely to pray which occasioned Diuines to terme prayer an humble familiarity with God He that will alwayes conuerse with God must alwayes either reade the Scripture saith Augustine or else pray for as often as we read his word he talketh with vs and as often as we pray we talke with him When our Prophet sings in 123. Psalme Vnto thee lift I vp mine eyes O thou that dwellest in the heauens He doth vnderstand not eyes of his flesh only but eyes of his faith also seeing him which is inuisible Heb 11. 27. But the spirit by the mouth of Solomon as yet speakes more plainly Prou. 3. 6. In all thy wayes acknowledge God and he shall direct thy goings in omnibus vijs cogita Deum as the vulgar latine runnes in euery thing thou takest in hand thinke on God or as our translation haue respect vnto him as Tobie to his sonne Set God alwayes before thine eyes behold him as a Iudge and so shame to sinne before the Iudges eye behold him as thy great reward and so faint not in doing good Behold him as authour and finisher of thy faith and so runne with patience the race which is set before thee Behold him as the Donor of euery good and perfit gift and so confesse that he worketh all thy works for thee by whose grace thou art whatsoeuer thou art S. Augustine beginneth his heauenly meditations in this stile Domine Deus meus da cordi meo te desiderare desiderando quaerere quaerendo inuenire inueniendo amare amando mala mea redâ—…mpta non iterare O Lord giue me grace from the very bottom of mine heart to desire thee in desiring to seeke thee in seeking to find thee in finding to loue thee in louing vtterly to loath my former wickednes And in his soules soliloquies or priuat talke with God he prayeth in like manner O Lord who knowest me giue me grace to know thee O my comforter shew me thy selfe let mee see thee which art the light of mine eyes mirth of my spirit ioy of my heart life of my soule It is a good Motto thinke and thanke God there is no moment of time wherein God cares not for vs and therefore saith a Bernard no moment of time wherein we should not seeke him especially when we come to his house to call vpon his Holy Name for how prayâ—…s hee to God who prates in his heart to the world intende quoth the same Father 〈◊〉 qui intendit tibi Christ promised to be with vs in our deuotions euen in the middest of vs Mat. 18. 20. but as Eusebius Emisenus obserueth how shall God bee in the mids of thee if thou be not in the mids of thy selfe If the aduocate sleepe how shall the Iudge awake No maruaile if thou loose thy sute when as in praying thou loosest thy selfe Hilary writing vpon the words of the Psalmist all my wayes are before thee notes that the Prophet making his course before Gods eye to whom all hearts are open and no secrets hid walked not in the counsell of the wicked nor stood in the way of sinners his feete did not goe downe to death and his steps take hold of hell but his whole pilgrimage was a seeking of the Lord and as S. Paul phraseth it he did so runne that he did obteyne Seneca though he were not a Doctour in Diuinity yet he wrote in his 10 Epistle lib. 1. Diuine-like to this purpose Sic viue cum hominibus quast deus videat sic loquere cum Deo quasi homines audiant So conuerse with men as if God did euer see thee so conferre with God as if men did euer heare thee and in another Epistle God is neere to thee with thee within thee so it is Lucilius that a sacred spirit resideth in vs as a custos and obseruer of all that we doe