IT is GOD (saith the Prophet Da­vid Psal 94. 10.) that teacheth mā knowledge, knowledge of GOD, and of him­selfe.

This lesson of Knowledge did man then first begin to take, whē he was first taken out of the dust of the earth, and began to be a Living Soule. Siquidem à primordio reram conditor earum cum ipsis pariter com­pertus est; ipsis ad hoc prolatis, vt Deus cognosceretur, saith Tertullian Advers. Mar. cion. lib. 1. & Chrysest. (on Rom 1) [...]. And Athanasius al­so (on Rom 1) veri [...]as ipsa siue Dei cognitio [...]u­êre homi [...]ibus ab initi [...] [...]indita..For that which was forbidden man in the beginning, was not knowledge simply, but Knowledge of Good and Evill; that which was a privation rather of his knowledge, in causing a deprivation of his happie estate.

This lesson of Knowledge, begun to bee taught man in the beginning, and yet not as yet ended, when the end of all things is at hand, hath beene by GOD divers & sundry waies delivered vnto man; as he that know­eth [Page 2] all things, and knoweth all things best, knewe it to be most convenient for that Scholler, whom hee had made by his word and his commandment, & yet hath much adoe to make him a Scholler, for all his worde, and all his commandements.

First GOD dealt with man, as with a child of small capacitie. [...] (as S. Chrysostome speaketh Ad pop Anti­och homil. [...] [...]. First GOD spake vnto vs by the world, by The Booke of the world Which Chrysostome [...]. ad pop. Antioch. 1) cal­leth [...] &c. The Greatest Booke or Bi­ble: of as Great a Vo­lu ne as the whole world Clem Alex. cal­leth the crea­tion, or crea­ture of the world a kinde of GODS Scripture See Gualther in his preface to this Psalme, there terming it, Librū Naturae. Note the secōd word in the Psalm. Whence [...] a Booke See also Bartas his Elegancy in the First Day of the First Weeke, vetse. 151. Tripartit. Hist. lib 8 &c.,or, The Booke of Nature, by all the workes which he had made. This maner of GODS teaching of vs, and spea­king vnto vs, the Prophet David here declareth in the six first verses of this Psalme.

So then these words of my Text are some part of The Booke of the World, where Nights are as it were the Blacke Inkie Lines of learning, Dayes the White Light­some Spaces betweene the Lines: where GOD hath Im­printed a very legible Delineation of his Glory. And whereby GOD teacheth mā knowledge: evē now too, after that Knowledge (Cognitio Sancta Iun & Trem. ib., the Knowledge, the Holy Knowledge of the Lord) is encreased, according to the prophecy of Daniel (Dan. 12. 4.) and that Act. 2. the seaventeenth and the eighteenth verses, alleaged out of the Prophet Ioel. Yea even very now doth GOD teach man knowledge by the Booke of the World, when as the Booke of his Word lyeth before vs. This booke di­recting vs vnto that booke, and that booke leading vs vnto to this: and all to make Good Schollers of vs, if such rare and excellent Bookes may beget any learning in [Page 3] vs. It is written then in the booke of GOD, & wrought by GOD in the booke of the world, One Day Telleth an­other.

So that whether we wil learne it by A [...]. rote.wrote, or else by the Booke; the booke of GOD, or the booke of the world: we haue our choice.

Thinke not then (my deere Brethren) either this, or the knowledge of GOD to bee any hard lesson for you to learne, and take it not for any Eleophuge So is the sift propositi­on of Euclids first Booke of Elements called▪ because of the hard­nesse thereof to yong be­ginners.,or Bricke wall. For (as yee haue heard) it is written not onely in the Bible; but in the booke of the world too; where are no Turkish Characters, no Hebrew points, no Greeke manuscript Abbreviations to trouble you: much lesse any multitude of Lines, or Angles to dishar­ten you. Only, One Day Telleth another.

Of which that we may the better bee informed, & our liues thereby (if it please GOD to dispense vnto vs so large a measure of his grace) amended and refor­med: May it please you to obserue with me, but two or three things.

First, what is The meaning of these words, One Day 1 Telleth another. where yee shal perceaue what is meant by The Daies, and what by their Telling one another. Or if yee list to divide this First Generall Part into two: The First shall be of the Meaning of the words. The Se­cond, 2 of The Maner of the Daies Telling one another, The Maner of their Speech.

The Third, how ever the last Generall part shal be, 3 The Matter, The Subiect, or, The Substāce of their Speech.

The word of Exhortation shall not lie in an heape [Page 4] together: but, like vnto salt, shall here and there bee sprinkled, as need shall seeme most to require; that so the whole may the better be seasoned.

The Last Generall part, because this time will not bee sufficient to treate of, and yet it behoueth you to haue some precognition thereof: It shall suffice (be­sides that which hath beene said of The Knowledge of GOD) to tell you that it is, The Glory of GOD; That which The Heavens are said to declare in the first verse of this Psalme: And The Handy worke of GOD; That which The Firmament is there said to Shew. The Hea­vens declare the glory of God, and the Firmament sheweth his handy worke.

And so much the lesse need shall there be of saying any more vnto you hereof at this time, because wee shall often make mention of it, by occasion of that, which (if GOD will) now, and hereafter ere long bee; shall be said of the other two parts. Such being The Glory of GOD, as that it cannot but shew it selfe in all things, and is indeed the maine intendment of this whole designe.

Part. 1.Now then first, as concerning the first Generall part, The Meaning of these words, One Day Telleth ano­ther.

Where first, I thinke it convenient to deliver vnto you three or foure Literall Expositions of these words.

The first whereof (vnlesse you thinke it to apper­taine to an Allegoricall, or else a Mixt Sense) is colle­cted out of the 9, 10, and 11. Chapters of the Epistle [Page 5] to the Romanes, conferred especially with the foure first verses of this Psalme. The last whereof is expreslie cited in the 18. verse of the tenth Chapter: the second (where the words of my Text) is (according to this Exposition) implyed in the 21. verse, in those words [...], &c: according to Isaiah, [...] All Day long, or, Every Day, Frō Day to Day, During a long Day, or Time, or, a Day of Many Daies and Nights: Lyra, ibid. Ab An­tiquo vs (que) ad praesens, From a Long Time agoe vnto This present. And so, in especiall Application thereof vnto The Iewes, The Meaning of my Text may be: One Day] of GODS calling the Israelites, of Stretching out his hands vnto them, of Sending Prophets Early and Late without ceasing vnto them, of working wonders among them, of preseruing them, of heaping his Benefits vpon them, & the like, Telleth] The Glory of GOD, vnto Another Day] of like sort: & that Continually, vntill the comming of the Messias, the End of the Law, the End of their Desires, the Consolation, the Hope, and Hoped for Redeemer of Is­rael, and their Chiefe Felicity.

But in a more vniversall sitting of it both to Iewes and Gentiles (whose happy vnion in the Divine Electiō and vocation, and in the Riches of GODS Glory the A­postle there diverse times very Notably vrgeth.) The Meaning may receiue this Augmentation: Namely, One Day] of Salvation, whether of Iewes or Gentiles, iointly or severally: One Accepted Time, One Day] of Hea­ring GODS voice: One Day] whether of the wilde, or Naturall Branches: One Day] of their partaking of the Roote, and Fatnesse of the Oliue tree: One Day] of their E­lection, [Page 6] Vocation, Engraffing, Admittance into the nūber of GODS people, His Beloved, Children of the Living GOD, vessels of Honour and of Glory. Againe, One Day] of Casting away the one or the other, through their Vnbeliefe and Disobedience: One Day] of their Reiection, their being Blinded & Enslumbered, that they should not See nor Heare vnto This Day (Rom. 11. 8.) One Day] of Bowing downe their Backs Alway, of their Fall, & of their Losse. Yet againe: One Day] of their Recovery, if they a­bide not still in vnbeliefe. One Day] of their Reelection, or Recollection, Recalling, Reconciling, Reengraffing, Read­mitting, Revniting, and Replenishing: vntill in processe Ioh. 10. 16. of many Dayes, there come to bee One Sheepfold [...], and one Shepheard. Finally: One Day] of any of GODS Mer­cies, or Iudgements, towards Iewes or Gentiles, towards Iewes and Gentiles, towards All people of the world: One Day] of The Goodnesse & Severity of GOD (Rom. 11. 22.) Whether iointly or severally, toward this or that peo­ple, in all and every respect, considered: vntill we come to, O the Depth of the Riches of the wisedome and Know­ledge of God, &c: Telleth] to make That Depth the Grea­ter, Psal. 42. 9. and as it were One Deepe calling another; vnto Ano­ther Day] of like condition, The Glory of GOD: conclu­ding as S. Paul doth the 11. Chapter to the Romanes, & as we do this Exposition, To whom be Glory for Ever. A­men.

2 The Second Exposition is gathered out of the Title, 3 or Inscription of this Psalme. The Third out of the first and second Chapters of Genesis compared with 4 the sixe first verses of this Psalme. The Fourth is Saint Austins.

[Page 7] For the Second; I am not ignorant, that (what with 2 the diverse significations of the prefixes in Hebrew, [...] and [...], and of the Hebrew word [...], and what with something in this Psalme contained seeming to sound to th' advancement of each Sense) this Psalme hath his Title much like vnto the Text that I haue read vnto you; that is, much diversified with vari­ety of Senses, and of Interpretations. But the best of all (for the Title) I take to bee that of Iunius and Tremellius; (which they haue from Abraham Ezra, & David Kimbi, the two See Bucers Preface vpon the Psalmesbest of al the Rabbins) and it is, Magistro Symphoniae Psalmus Davidis, The Psalme of David to the master of the singing, or, the master of the quire. That which Avenarius In Lexic. in verbo, [...]also, but with more ex­plication, hath delivered: Continuanti in Canticis Psal­mus Davidis, the Psalme of David to him that continueth on the singing in the church, that is, Hic Psalmus (saith he) exhibitus est praefecto cantorum, qui continuabat & vrgebat, vt is assidue suo tempore & ordine decantaretur, This Psalme was exhibited, or, tendred to the master of the singers, who did vrge the continuall singing of it from day to day in his due time & order. And this too is most agreeable to the Greek, [...], if it be rightly vn­derstood.

This I needed not perchance to haue spoken vnto you; but that, as our Saviour by the image and super­scription of the money shewed to whom the tribute belonged, and as the Rubricke doth something availe to the better vnderstanding of the Blacke (as they call it:) so the Title & Inscription of this Psalme may some [Page 8] thing helpe vs to a good sense and meaning of these words, which out of the Psalme I haue read vnto you. For according to the Title in that best interpretation, one meaning of these words may be. That One Day in the Church, One Day of singing in the Church, One Day of reading in the Church, yea and of reading too these Psalmes of David in the Church, according as they are divided by some Itain Psalter. Arabic.into 20. by others Ita Ecclesia nostra instituit legendos, iuxta numerum die­rum mensis.into 30. Daies of reading them. One Day of praying in the Church, One Day of Gods service in the Church, recounteth vnto another day of like sort, or otherwise, the Glory of GOD. The service and worship of GOD being by this meanes continued still in the Church, his name con­tinually magnified, and the glory of his name spread farre and neere, by the report of what is done every day in the Church.

So (not to speake of Hiram king of Tyrus 1 King. 57., and o­thers) so came vnto the Queene of Sheba the fame of Solomon, concerning the name of the Lord, as t'is expres­sed 1. King. 10. 1. And herevpon shee came, and blessed the Lord GOD of Solomon, as t'is said in the ninth verse. So, I pray GOD, may the fame of King IAMES concer­ning the name of the Lord, be conveyed to the Turks & Infidels, and to the vtmost parts of the world, that so (if GOD will) they may be wonne to blesse the Lord God of our godly King and Soveraigne. So King David made such great and royall provision for the service of GOD, 1. Chr. 25. And in the two & fortieth Psalme, and else where so often, hee expresseth his fervent de­sire [Page 9] to haue the worship and service of GOD daily ob­serued in the Church. Nay, so king Solomon built a house for the Name of the Lord GOD of Israel, 1. King. 8. 20. Which too to build (as t'is in the 18. ver.) was in the heart of king Dauid, And he did dwell, that he was so min­ded. So minded: That so from day to day, as it were by One Daies Report vnto anrther, the worship and Glory of GOD might be as farre, as farre may be, dilated & ex­tended, even vnto the ends of the world.

This, (what say I this?) the daily service of GOD in Churches, the rites and ceremonies, the riches and so­lemnities, the royaltie and magnificence therein vsed, to haue been alwaies very singular meanes of the ad­vancement of the Glory of the most glorious, and the holy worship of the holiest? Yea truely, Beloued; and that in Christianitie, and when it fared but hard with Christians, nor had they such peace & plentie, so ma­ny well munited kingdomes of their owne, as now they haue. I report me but to the smallest insight in history. Let Titus be excepted, for being so much mo­ved, as Iosephus De bello Iu­daico lib. 7. c 4. 9. 10.reporteth, with the Temple at Ieru­salem. And let be vnreckoned in like case Cosröe, Vide Guliel­mum Tyrium, Bell. Sacrili. 1. Aar, and Daber, kings of Persia. And let those who there­withall least of all were moved, moue forwarde this cause most of all. For Vide Guliel­mum Tyrium, Bell. Sacrili. 1. Hequin of the Persians & the like, when they saw that Christianity encreased, as they thought, too fast; then began they to look more narrowly to the Temples of the Christians, then to inhibite Vide Guliel­mum Tyrium, Bell. Sacrili. 1. them the vse of their accustomed solemni­ties, yea and to constraine them vpon those daies, in [Page 10] which the worship and service of GOD should haue beene celebrated with most magnisicence, to keepe them within Vide Guliel­mum Tyrium, Belli Sacri li 1.the doores of their houses, vpon paine and perill of their liues. Lastly, when all this would not serue then downe tumbled they the Temples thē. selues, the Temple of the Resurrection Vide Guliel­mum Tyrium, Belli Sacri li 1., and the like; According to the old policie of Nabuchodonosor; An­tiochus Epiphanes Mac [...]abeor. lib. 1. & 2., and others. So laboured they as mnch as in them lay, to barre the Dayes telling one ano­ther, by this meanes, the Glory of GOD. So endeavou­red they to make the Day more silent then the Night; the night, because they loued darknesse more then light.

Oh then, Beloued, if not the desire of the hallow­ing of GODS name (which ought to be the first in our desires) may moue you to provide diligently, yea and (as much as in you lieth) magnificently too, for the daily service of GOD, and your every daies frequēting of it: yet let the Day your daily Orator, & (if you will) your Orator too, either perswade you therevnto, or else beg so much at your hands: that you would be so good as to countenance his Report with your pre­sence, enrich it with your presents vnto GOD, beautifie Phys. lib. 2. c. 6 context. 59.it with your holinesse, and make it happie by your ser­ving of GOD. For if Protarchꝰ (as Aristotle relateth) said that the Altar-stones were happie; may I not much more account that Day happy, wherein GOD himselfe is honoured? And if the fervent desire of the creature waiteth, when the sonnes of GOD shall be revealed (Rom. 8. 19.) hath it not a fervent desire also of his owne felici­tie? [Page 11] And when is the Daies best happinesse, but when the true Diespiter (the true GOD, whose is the Day and the Night) shall be most highly honoured? Let then your zeale and assiduitie in the worship and service of GOD, make that One Day may make vnto another the more ample and honourable Report of GODS glory. For which purpose I exhort every one of you, as S. Paule doth the Ephesians, and the Colossians, that you Ephes. 5. Col 3.would speake vnto one another, that you would teach one another, that you would exhort and admonish one ano­ther, that you would stirre vp, put one another in mind, ( [...]) by Psalmes, and Hymns, and spirituall songs, [...] (singing with, and without Instruments) And [...], (singing with a comely and graceful kind of thanksgiving) [...] (in your hearts, in your strongest affections) vnto the Lord. And let me say vnto every soule, as Prudenti­us prudently saith to his owne soule in the Preface of his booke [...]:

Nec nox vlla vacet, quin Dominum canat. At least wise let vs bestowe our voices, sounds and voices, vpon the Lord, and vpon the celebration of his praises, if wee will af­ford him nothing else. Let vs like Rectors of the quire of the Dayes, continue on their Telling one another, their chaun­ting, and recounting the Glory of GOD, by our Psalmes, our Hymnes, and spirituall songs. And that so much the ra­ther, because (as Theodoret noteth on the words of my Text, according as he is translated) wee men are here [Page 12] taught, illi (Deo) hymnorum catilenam afferre, to bring and offer vnto God songs and hymnes of praises, & thank­fulnesse; We, I say, are here taught it, even by this one Days Telling another. One Day telleth another.

The Third Meaning is such, as that (according to the Infinite variety of GODS works, and of the Glorie which he conferreth on them) it maketh The Dayes so to Multiply their words, That therby The Report of Gods Glory Infinitely passeth through the Treasures of the Deepe, doth Infinitly Grow, and Spring, and Creepe, and Goe, and Swim, and Fly: and Fly Vnder, and Aboue the Heauens: doth Infinitly Moue, and Liue, & Liue for Euer. And this Meaning is, that every of the Six daies where­in GOD made the world, The Seaventh day also wherein he rested, do One declare vnto another the Glory of GOD. Those, by all the Workes which in any of them were created; This, by GODS Resting in it and Sanctifying of it. So haue S. Ambrose, Chrysostome, and Basill, (in their [...].) And so hath that divine Poet, Seigneur du Bartas, with a gift of excellencie, handled each one of those Daies; that well they haue made it to appeare that each of them may lend to other, each and all of them may lend to vs (though they lend vs too) infinit and vnspeakable, though ever spoken, matter of GODS Glory. And in this respect Bodin speaketh very well▪ (towards th' end of the first Chapter of his first booke De Republica) Deus Opt. Max. cum omnia sapientèr, tum illud potissimùm, quòd rebus agendis ac negotijs contrahē ­dis sex omnino dies definiit; diem verò septimū See the Lord de la Nowe, Dis­course. 25 contem­plationi & quieti sanctissimae consecra [...]it, quem vnū Gen. [...]p. 2 Deut Exod. cap▪ 20. ex [Page 13] omnibus beauit, & cuisoli benedixit; vt diem huncfestū hilaritèr ac iucundè transigamus, & in pulcherrima Dei praepotentis opera, iudicia, iussa intuentes, in eius laudibus acquiescamus. Where, besides the blessednes by GOD himselfe bestowed on that Day, which is bestowed on his service, (that which before we spake of, and is ex­presly proved out of the beginning of the second of Genesis) This is also a thing of very singular note, That not only the six daies of Gods working (I say not The Workes only that GOD made in the six daies, but the six daies of GODS Working▪) haue taught man [...] and [...] too; (as Aristotle hath distinguished them in his sixth booke of Ethicks, and the fourth Chapter.) But the Seauenth Day hath learned him Vid. de la Nowe vb, suprd Contemplati­on also; And this to be the Endc of all trades and occu­pations, of all arts and sciences, of all affaires & nego­tiations, both civill and domesticall; Even vpon the Sabbath Day, to keepe it holy, to enioy our rest with reioycing in the Lord, & in pulcherrima Dei praepoten­tis opera, iudicia, iussa intuentes, in eius laudibus acquies­cere: and by contemplating the beautifull Workes of GOD; his iudgements, and his commandements, to rest and reap­pose our selues wholy on the magnifying of GODS name; ca­sting away from vs euery thing that presseth downe (as the Apostle Heb. 12. 1.speaketh) & the sin that hangeth so fast on vs. That so at the least once in the week, we may be foūd resting and residing in our proper Element without any worldly gravitation.

This the Heathen men had some glimmering of: And therefore, how ever they derided

[Page 14] Iuv. Sattyr. 14.— metuentem Sabbata patrem: yet they themselues, though all in darknes (as they were busied themselues about such things as the Sabbath Day had taught thē. Hence were they so prolixe in their Contemplation, & Contemplatiue felicity. Hence had they their Dayes of vacation from civill affaires, even th' administration Ovid. de Fastis lib 1.of iustice it selfe.

Fastus erit per quem lege licebit agi. And all this lear­ned they by the sound of the Sabbath Day. The sound of the Sabbath Day, which had gone out into all lands, ac­cording to that which is in the next verse saue one vnto my Text.

S. Chrysostome in the tenth Homilie of his [...], speaking of GODS Resting the Sabbath Day, and Hallow­ing it, [...], saith he, [...].

If then, Beloved, it were one of the first Items that ever GOD gaue vs, if the law of Nature hath taught it vs, if the Day it selfe, even this Day, so long agoe, and now so long time together, hath told it vs, if it be the Expetible End of all our actions, the soveraigne Felici­ty of this life, To dedicate some Whole Day in the week to the worship and service of GOD, and to the workes that are spirituall; Ought we not, ought we not so to doe? Though it had never beene expresly written in the ten commandements. For, One Day telleth another.

The Fourth Exposition is S. Austins, in his eigh­teenth [Page 15] Sermon De Natali Domini; That the Dayes which we in Christianity keepe holy and festivall; or otherwise duely and reverently obserue, in memorie of any especiall thing concerning Christ, doe one cer­tifie another. So the Day of Christs Birth, the Day of the Purification, the Day of th' Annunciation of the blessed Virgin, the Day of Christs Resurrectiō, the Day of his Ascension, the Day of his Sending the Holy Ghost; the Dayes which now we obserue in tokē that Christ fasted so many Dayes and Nights for vs, Et Christi merito quae (que) notata Dies, doe one relate and recount vn­to Ovid. de. Fast. another, the Glory of GOD & his vnspeakeable goodnesse towards vs; in calling to our memories, & wit­nessing to the world the gladsome tidings of the Gos­pel. Dies Nativitatis diei passionis, & dies Passionis diei Resurrectionis, &c: annunciat Verbum. Illic natum, hic passum: In illa Angelorum gaudium, in ista totius mun­di luctum; sed tamen omnium in Resurrectione triumphū, &c: as S. Austen vbi supra.speaketh. One Day telleth, &c.

In the next place, it shall not be amisse, if we first of all examine the very wordes themselues, what they may signifie in the Original, conferred too with other languages.

They are in the Hebrew, [...]. Where all the difference is about the signification of the prefixe [...], and of the word [...]. for [...] being a note either of the Genitiue or Datiue case, and sometimes too by the preposition De, or, Ad to be expounded: Hence some haue vnderstood [...] in this place, as if it were to be interpreted by the preposition De. So [Page 16] Kimhi hath taken it: as if we should read it thus, One Day telleth of another. And then the meaning is, That One Day sheweth another day in like sort to follow after him, and that there shall be the same reason of the subsequent, as was of the precedent day; The Sun still continuing on his goodly order and vicissitude of rising and setting.

So hath One Day told another the Glory of GOD, and hath made him knowne, not in Israël only, but vnto all people. Hence Cicero De Nat. Deo­rum lib. 2. could say: Diet noctis (que) vicissi­tudo conservat animantes, tribuens aliud agendi tempus, aliud quiescendi. Sic vndi (que) omni ratione concluditur, mente consilio (que) divino omnia in hoc mundo ad salutē om­nium conservationem (que) admirabilitèr administrari. See how the heathen man here speaketh; Sic vndi (que) omni ratione concluditur: It is concluded every way, by every reason, The Glory of God in his providence: every thing is a meanes, a Medius Terminus, to proue & to Demonstrate it withall. Whether it be the vicissitude of the Day and of the Night, or, the continuall Suitte conti­nuelle. French Annot. here.suite, and following of one Day vpon another; One Day Telleth another.

So also, of the orderly succession of the Day and of the night, haue S. Chrysostome, and Theodoret, expounded the words of my Text, as in the second Generall part shall farther be declared.

Others take [...] in the genitiue case, as if wee sound it thus: One Day telleth, or vttereth the word, or, the speech of another Day, ( [...]) with like mea­ning vnto that of Kimhies; and, that One Day deriueth his knowledge vnto another Day, one Day maketh report [Page 17] of another Daies adventures, and looke what is done to day we shall heare of it another Day.

A third sort (and they the most, and the most ap­proved) vnderstand here the Datiue Case, or (which is all one in meaning) the Accusatiue with the Prepo­sition Ad. Dies die [...], or, Dies ad Diem. One Day telleth another, or, telleth to, or vnto another.

Of this last sort, some are of opinion, that some thing ought here to be supplyed; as if by the Day telling another were strictly to be vnderstood, The Day succee­ding the other Verum rectius sine subintellectione hic ver­sus accipitur, saith Iansenius in his Annotations. And indeed, there is so much the lesse need of subaudition; because there is a word here [...] (signifying a word) expressed. And however This Day, declaring the Glo­ry of his Maker, shal so soone, as soone at night, leaue of any more to be: yet shall not GODS Glory there­with all leaue off any more to bee declared by it. For this day speaketh a Word to the succeeding day, (The Day telleth Like to Pag▪ nines Eloqui­tur, hereafter ensuing, and Mollers Elo­quitur & Testa­tur. out to the Day a Word, as one English manu­script Translation In New Colledge Li­brary.very well hath) and in a sort deri­veth, transfuseth, transmiseth, yea dying bequeatheth as a legacy to his successour, the ever succeeding pre­dication of GODS praises. No otherwise, then as by our late Queene of famous memory, though shee be dead, yet GOD is ever magnified, because of her Suc­cessour hauing as great a care of the setting forth of GODS Glory as ever she had. One Day Telleth another.

And were it not more out of order, then t'is out of due time; I would here take occasion to exhort e­very [Page 18] one of you by the Dayes, even This Dayes, exam­ple; to endeavour to leaue behind you, when you bee dead & gon, some monument of your owne, though it be but a good name; (and that is better then a good ointment, Ecclesiastes, 7. 3. and to bee chosen aboue great riches,, Prov. 22. 1.) I say, some monument or other, of GODS Glory. Even as yon see this Day our late Sove­raigne, though shee haue left no monument behinde her, as some suppose: yet hath she left a name and a fa­mous memoriall behind her, so that her praise shall bee spokē of, by One Dayes telling another. Yea and, for a mo­nument, she hath left vs a great emolument: I mentiō not the Statute of Provision, but the free and golden current of the Gospell, and that great monument of GODS Glory, her most honourable successour.

This might teach vs to provide, at least in our last wils, for that which our former wills so much neglect, and for which it was that GOD gaue vs any will at all; even the setting forth of the honour, and Glory of his heavenly Maiestie. Considering that (besides the god­ly examples of holy men of old) the Day also, as yong as it is, taketh all his care for bequeathing of this one and only thing to his successour, and for admonishing his heire apparant of this thing, even when he is nee­rest to the Night of his death. For Dies moritur in no­ctem, & tenebris vsquequa (que) sepelitur, as Tertulliā Lib. de Re­surrectione car­nisspea­keth, The night is the dayes death, and darknes is the graue to bury him in. Yet so, for all that, One Day Telleth ano­ther.

One Day] The word in the Original is [...]. Whence [Page 19] or else from the Chalde [...], or the Arabian, Iaumi (which yee will) is, in all likelyhood, made the Latine word Iam, quafi [...], This Time, This Day, &c. Fr. Holyoke, an­nexed to Ri­ders Dictio­nary, in the third Edition. Iam, now Ita etiam Ita­licè, Hor signifi­cat & horam & Iam.. [...], saith Aristotle in his fourth Booke of Phy­sicks, context 122, That shall come now, which shall come to Day, And that is said to haue come now, which is said to haue come to day. As if by One Daies telling another, were meant too, that Now telleth Now; that is, One While telleth another, one time certifieth another: yea, not so much as the least Moment of time, but it yeeldeth for the glory of GOD some matter of great moment. And if Aristotle thought [...], & [...], worthy his hādling in his na­turall [...] Arist. Phys. lib. 4. c. 13.:ought all these to be overpassed by vs in a Christian audience? when as not one of them but is contained within the Daies Report; not one of them but sheweth the Glory of GOD, either Now, or else But Now, or else But lately; or else Suddainely, by things A­rist. vbi supra in [...]. suddainely Ita [...] Extant; or else a great while since; or else a great while hence; or else some time or other. And all this by the wonderfull workes of the Almighty, which he worketh in all the differences of Time. One Day telleth another.

For our English Telleth; the originall hath [...].

The worde [...], The Chalde Paraphrase ex­poundeth by a word of theirs [...], signifying to shew, or, to declare. One Day sheweth, or, declareth vnto another. Agreeably to that in the first verse of this Psalme; The heavens Declare the glory of GOD, and the Firma­ment [Page 20] Sheweth his handy work. And to the Greek [...], in the sou [...]th verse of this Psalme. Like also vnto that which before you heard out of S. Austin, Dies diei An­nunciat verbum. The Chalde Translation (besides that which thereof afterwards shall bee said) expoundeth it by the worde [...]. One Day Apponeth, or, Addeth vnto another. Of which: Non video, saith Bucer, quid si­bi voluerit, quod Diei Appositionem tribuit, nisi forsan in­tellexerit, Diē nova Dei semper opera exh [...]bendo, animis nostris materiam offerre de Deo, & tam magnifieis eius o­peribus diligentius cogitandi. I see not, saith he, what hee meaneth by one dayes Apponing, or, Adding vnto another; vnlesse happily, that every day bringeth forth some newe worke or other of the Almighties; giueth vs still farther matter and occasion of more diligently perpending & con­sidering the power, wisdome, and goodnesse of GOD, in all his workes.

But for the Hebrew and Arabian words: It is first to be noted, that according to them both wee may here read, One Day shall tell another. For [...] is here the Fu­ture Tense of the third Coniugation. Which Coniu­gation Augmenteth, or Increaseth the words Significa­tion: by importing a Double Where the former of that Double Action pas­seth vpō him that Telleth, and the Later vpō the thing Told, as Ce­vallerius obserueth.Action; by Adding, or Ap­poning to the verbs Former Action (which it had in the first Where the former of that Double Action pas­seth vpō him that Telleth, and the Later vpō the thing Told, as Ce­vallerius obserueth. Coniugation) the Impost of the Efficient, or Im­pulsiue cause Or, Designa [...], aliquem quidem agere, s [...]d aliero Sa [...]sore & Au­tore: as Caligni­us speaketh.. According to which; The Meaning of these wordes of my Text shall bee, as though wee did read them, One Day shall Let, or Suffer to tell another] One Day shall Bid, or Command to tell another] One Day shall Make, or, Cause to tell another] One Day shall Vrge, [Page 21] Perswade, Provoke, or Driue on to tell another:] or, Shall Driue on another to tel, Shal put him to it, or push him on,—velut vnda impellitur vndâ; as one waue is driven forward with another.] In a word: One Day, besides his owne Telling, shall Adde, or Appone the Telling, or Impul­siue Cause of Telling of Another, or, vnto Another. Which Adding, or Apponing of the Impulsiue Cause here imployed, I take (to appone my coniecture in a case so doubtfull) to be the Cause of the word of Ad­ding, or, Apponing vsed in the Chalde Translation, as e­ven now ye heard; Bucers Cōiecture for the Meaning being herevnto also consonant and agreeing.

[...] The Arabian word, Twise In the Im­printed copy of Nebiensis.Read in this verse, is likewise in the Future Tense; Although with the A­rabians the Future and the Present Tense be contained both in one (being otherwise distinguished.) As also the Hebrew Future Tense is sometimes taken for, or, to comprehend in it the Present Tense, or, Time: when as there is signified a Continuall Act. It is also put for the Preter perfect Tense, and somewhiles too for the Opta­tiue, or Potentiall Moode. Yea the Hebrew Future Tense (as one Bertram▪saith) putteth on the significations of All other Tenses, of what Moode & Lāguage soever they be: Shew­ing it selfe herein a right Proteus, that is, Heavenly Des­cended, & no Changling for his Chāgeablenes: as though it had this Motto; Tempora mutātur, & nos mutamur in Illa. Tenses, or Times are Changed, and I the Future am changed into the habite of the Rest.

So that it, being Formed too from the Imperatiue As is also the Aramick.Mood, is as it were a rich Paludamēt, or Coat Armour; [Page 22] in which The Dayes are clad, and invested the Embas­sadours, or Heraults at Armes, to Proclaime through out Al Times The Report of the Glory of that great Com­maunding Lord and Emperour of the Heavens; out of whose Imperatiue, All Times, together with All their Maners and Differences are Formed and Created. For so, agreeably herevnto, One Day] out of, vpon, or, according vnto Gods Commandement, Telleth another. One Day] May, and, God Graunt that it may Tell another; yea, One Day] Doth Which I take to be the cause, why di­verse here, in their Transla­ting, do as yet retaine, with vs, the presēt Tense. See hereafter the observation of Iunius and Trem. & Mol­ler, &c.and that Which I take to be the cause, why di­verse here, in their Transla­ting, do as yet retaine, with vs, the presēt Tense. See hereafter the observation of Iunius and Trem. & Mol­ler, &c. Continually, Tell another.

Againe: One Day not onely Doth, but Shall Tell ano­ther of GODS Glory; Shall, & Doth. Doth, in that it Shall: and Shall, in that it Doth: Doeth, and Shall: and therefore Hath told too. For, what is it that Hath beene? That that Shall be; and what is it that hath beene done? That which Shall be done: and there is no New thing vnder the Sunne. Is there any thing whereof one may say, Beholde this, it is New? It Hath beene already in the old time before vs. Ec­cles. 1. ver. 9. 10. And aske we but of the Heathen men, concerning what One Day telleth another, [...] Iom le Iom, Arab. & vide Cald. supra.Iaumi Or, Li.le laumin. They will say, Nullum est Iam dictum, quod non fit dictum Terent. in Prolog. Eunuc.prius. Seneca in his twelfth Epistle, expounding that same Of Heracle­tus., Vnus Dies par omni est, One Day is as good as every Day, or, One Day is equall vnto every Day; maketh one meaning of it to be, Parem esse vnum diem omnibus similitudine. Nihil enim habet longissimi temperis spatium, quod nō in vno die in­venias, lucem & noctem, & alternas mundi vices. There is nothing (saith he) in the longest space of time, which you may not finde couched within the compasse of one Day (hee [Page 23] vnderstands the Day Naturall) light and night, & the enterchangeable courses and alternities of worldly things. As if the present Day, the present Time, did serue for nothing else, but to combine the former. Glory of his Maker, with that that is to come, and so to make his praise to be continuall.

2 Secondly, we may attend the proper and fruitfull signification of the Hebrew, & Arabick, by their Roots.

The Roote of the Hebrew is, [...], scaturivit, exvnda­vit, to issue or flow forth. Whence is made the word here vsed, signifying, to speake fluently, or currently. An ordinary Metaphore (as yee know) with Cicero, Quin­tilian, and others the best for Elocution. One Day spea­keth Fluently vnto another. Sine haesitatione, (as Moller here speaketh) without any stop or stay, without any stut­tering or stammering, with great celerity & volubility of speech. Even like vnto the Sunne in the 5. and 6. verses of this Psalme, which commeth forth as a bridegrome out of his chamber, and Reioyceth, as a Gyant, to Runne his course.

Ier. 48. 10.Here they that doe the worke of the Lord negligently, they that doe it at halues, may learne to doe it more thoroughly, more readily, with greater alacrity, and with greater industry. For (alas) may it not be applyed even to many a ones Preaching now a daies, which the heathen Cic. de Orat. lib. 1.Orator hath of his own profession? At­qui vide in artificio per quàm tenui; & levi, quantò plus adhibeatur diligentiae, quàm in ha [...]re, quam consta [...]esse maximam. See how many times there is much more dili­gence vsed in some young schollers declamation, then is in [Page 24] a whole and entire Sermon; so graund a proclamation as it should be, of GODS praises. Yea many times there is much more exactnesse & curiosity vsed in some vile and base ar­tifice, then is in this; which yet for sooth we hold to bee the greatest exercise of all. One Day telleth another. And this Telling is a Preaching; (as directly out of the Rom 10Apostle I could proue vnto Et vide in se quentibus mul­ta huc spectan­tia.you.) And this Preaching is ac­cording to the lawes of perfect Oratory. O how, my thinkes, the very law of nature, or rather the GOD of nature hath instructed the Daies both naturall & Ar­tificiall, to Preach the Glory of GOD; according to the lawes, naturall shall I say or artificiall, of perfect Ora­tory. For, as if they were, ita ornati, vt non nati, sed à Deo ipso fictifacti (que) esse videantur; Ita ferè Cic de Orat. lib. 1.So, so, One Day tel­leth another.

Many in this place haue much affected to render the word [...] by some worde signifying Eructation, or Belching, or that which is more homely. Hence the vulgar Latin hath, Eructat verbum; the newer Spanish Translation, Reguelda palabra; the French also, Desgorge propos. All these thinking that the metaphore had bin here taken from a full stomacke; (ex plenitudine ven­tris, as Caietane here speaketh) which indeede is taken from the gushing or flowing out of water out of his source or fountaine. And therefore t'is but needfull, which to this effect the French Annotation here hath vpon the word, desgorge. So hath the prophet David elsewhere vsed the word [...]: as Psal. 119. the thirde verse of the last letter, My lips shall speake of thy praise, or (according to the Originall) shall power forth plenti­fully [Page 25] thy praise. So here also, by One Dayes telling ano­ther, is meant, That One Day powreth forth Abundant­ly vnto another. Their Good meaning, who Translate by Eructation, being here also to be found: namely, That Every Day is Superabundantly Full of GODS praise, a Full of words, or Matter Iob. 32. 18., and according to that Ful­nesse, doth plentifully vtter and vent out his Laudatorie Speech; And their Translating being so much the more laudable, and concording with this other, if by Eructa­tion there be vnderstood, Fountaine, or, River-Eructa­tion.

This is very well observed here by Bucer vpon the word [...]. Eructare vertere solent (saith hee) & id non­nunquam significat: sed ad Sermonem significandum inde Translatum est, quod propriè Scaturire significat, Sermo enim ex ore, vt Rivus è Fonte ebullit.

Hence Munster commeth neere vnto the Originall, when he Translateth here Influit. And so doth Pag­nine putting here, Eloquitur, insteed of Eructat. Like vnto our English and Scottish, One Day Telleth another: or, (as others Translate) One Day Vttereth &c. Which conspiteth also with the Italian, Raconta la parola, and with the Spanish, In the sig­nification of Speaking: as our English word (Tale) signifieth with those of Saxonie and Belgica: yea and with vs too, when, interrupting one in his Speech, we say: Sauing your Tale, Fabla dicho, in the Ferrariam Editiō; yea and with the Greeke too. For so also [...] some­times signifieth, especially if it haue such a worde as [...], or [...], ioyned with it: as here, [...]. Iunius and Tremellius obserue here a farther note (though not farther then afore Where, a­mong other things, of Cōtinuation of Doing, gathered out of the Future tense, in which the Presēt Tense is Involved.hath beene intimated:) that which the French Annotations also haue, and is agree­able to that which is in the 5 ^th and 6 ^th verses of this [Page 26] Psalme. Eructat (say they). i. indesinentèr profundit, vt Fons perennis aquas profundit largitèr. Largiter, & Inde­sinentèr. Both these are here also observed by Moller. Eructat (saith he) id est, Copiose & Assiduè Eloquitur & Testatur, &c. Where by the way wee may lay hold on the word Testatur, to enrich & countenance the Days Telling, with his Testifying, like vnto the Nights Certi­fying. One Day Telleth, Certifieth, and Testifieth vnto an­other] Abundantly and Indesinently.

To these two may bee added a Third Observation. For Water doth also Bubble, or make some purling Noise even at the spring head. And so doe the Dayes in their parling one with another: as hereafter (GOD willing) shall more at large bee declared, when wee shall come to speake of The Manner of their Speech. This is that which the Greeke too, [...], leadeth vs vnto, rather then to Translate it by Eructuatiō. For [...] (as hath beene said) doth not alwaies signifie Eru­ctuare, or, Eructare; but sometimes too, Fremere, Strepe­re, to keepe a Noise, or a Rustling. So that of Homer, [...], is interpreted by, [...]. And this signification is very agreeable to that which followeth in the two next verses vnto my Text: There is neither Speech nor Language, but their voi­ces are Heard among them. Their sound is gone out into all Lands &c. Their Sound, their Voices▪ or, the sound of Gods voices speaking by them. According to that of Leo: Leo Serm. 8. de Ieiun. X. mensis. cap 2. Ip­sius voces in Die, ipsius audiuntur in Nocte, &c: Gods voi­ces are heard speaking vnto vs by the Day, and by the Night.

[Page 27] So then, One Day Noyseth, and Soundeth vnto ano­ther, and that Indesinently, and that too Plentifully, His Glory, who is plentifull in his Goodnesse towardes all his creatures.

Ought then our mouth either to bee Silent in Gods praises, or else Sparefull, or else ever weary of so wel do­ing? for, One Day Telleth another.

The Roote of the Hebrew hath also certaine Cosens, or Allies, which will helpe vs to some Intelligence, touching the Ample Meaning of The Report, that by The Dayes is made in this place. Two of them, & they the Neerest (for I will not trouble you with any more of the Kindred) are [...] (To Draw, or cause to come out, to get and come to the knowledge of a thing by some other:) & [...] (to Foretell, to Prophecie, or Preach.) According to the first, The Meaning may be also: One Day shal pro­voke, (as before you heard) One Day shall Draw, or get Knowledge out of another: One Day shall pike, search, Sift, or fish out something, out of another, or, more then ano­ther: One still to and of another enterchangeably Giuing and Taking, Adding and Receiuing more and more Re­vealed Knowledge and Information. According to the later, This also may bee Meant: One Day will Foretell, Preach, or Prophecie vnto another; One Day will Evange­lize, will vtter the Gospell, or Parables of God, vnto ano­ther: According vnto that, Mat. 13 35 Psal. 78. 2. & 49. 5.I will open my Mouth, in Parables, I will vtter the things which haue beene kept se­cret, &c. Agreeably also to that preaching of the Gospell, mentioned, Rom. 10. v. 14, 15.

[Page 28] [...] The Roote, or Theme, of the Arabian, is parted into two Boughes, or Branches of Signification. Which (for Vpō the pointing or vow­clling where­of, I dare not as yet adventure, vnlesse I should doe it vpon coniec­ture: as much else is in the Arabian; The rather, be­cause of the paucitie of pointed or vowelled Books: & for want of a cō ­pleat punctu­ated Arabian Dictionary: with which that Divine-Linguist, and most skilfull in the Ara­bicke, M Wil­liam Bedwell, is richly furnished. It is to bee wished, that the charges of the Imprinting of that, or the like, and other good Arabian Bookes, and of forming Types and Characters for that purpose, might by some Heroically minded be supported. It would be an ex­cellent meanes of the Advancement of the Common weale of Learning and Chri­stianitie It would the rather cause the Kings of Arabia to bring Gifts (Psal. 72. 10.) not only Philosophicall, Physicall, and Rhetoricall (with which among others, E. vax, that learned King of Arabia was enriched) but of Divinitie and Christianitie too, and of the Gold of Arabia, to wit, continual) praying vnto Christ, and dayly praising of him (Psal, 72. 15) In a word, It would be a Mite, wel befitting the Might of a King, to cast into the Earthly Treasurie of The Daies Report of the Glory of The Almightie. want of Garments, The Gold of Arabia, or Richer Mat­ter, to spread in the way,) we of the poorer sort of Christs servants will vse as the people did the Branches, (Mat. 21. 8.) which they cut downe from the trees, and strawed in the way of our Saviour. Thereby the better to decke and adorne, though with such slight stuffe, The Dayes Report of Gods Glory, and to Cry out to Him in the End, Hosanna in the Highest.

One of those Branches of Signification, is like vnto that of the Hebrew Roote it selfe afore spoken of; name­ly, To Issue, or Flow out, as out of a Fountaine, to Spring, to Arise, to Sprout, and (that which perchance is from the Arabick) to Bud forth. Also, to Shew, or to Declare.

The other is: to Begin, to Arise, to take Arising, or Be­ginning; also, to Be the Beginning, or Arising.

Now according herevnto; One Day Doth, or Shall Flow out, Spring, or Arise, Bud forth, Shew and Declare To and Of Another.

Againe: One Day Doth Begin, taketh Beginning, is a [Page 29] Beginning, Of and To Another.

Here are Buds and Blossomes of Gods Glory. Here are Sweet Sources and Arisings, Springs and Flowings, Shews and Declarations of Gods Glory: proceeding from The Roote of the Tongue of the Dayes Telling; Telling & Tea­ching vs, That our Tongues should be a Fountaine of Sweet, and not of Bitter Things. For you would also thinke, that The Day had a Licorish Tongue, or at least­wise a Mellifluous, if yee knew how many Sweet Things it Telleth of. His Eructatiō being not only of the Sweets of Creation, but of Most prudent and provident Conser­vation, Preservation, Gubernation; yea and of the Choi­cest of all others: Election, Vocation, Redemption, Sancti­fication, Iustification, Glorification. So many Sweet Ver­bals Derived from One Primitiue Word of God, by the Deepe Chanell of the Dayes Verbosity.

Where among other things Flowing out, the Dayes Tongue beiug Well Liquored, are whole Seas and Rivers of Corporall, and of Spirituall Vid. Act. 2. & Ioel. 2.Effusion.

Where among other Buds, are Bodies: among other Springs, are Spirits: among other Arisings, are Rising & Raising vp of Dead Bodies, (whereof hereafter:) & a­mong other things that shoot and spring forth, and that without stinting, are, or is: The Roote of Iesse, the Tree, and Water of Life.

But All, one among another, are (as hereafter in the Subiect yee shall heare) All Things.

But One Aboue All other Things, is: that Rising vp of that Iesus-Root of Iesse. Againe: Here is that that Doth Begin, That that Takes Beginning, and That that Is Be­ginning [Page 30] to Another.

How thē can he but be here, That is, the Beginning to All Other? How can His Birth both Temporall and E­ternal, but Sprout out of this fruitfull Wombe of the Day, yea and of the Vid Psal. 110 3.Morning, the First and Chiefest part of the Day: especially that First and Chiefest Eternal Birth of him, who is the First, and Chiefest, and Aeternall Day?

When as here are so Many Generations, & Corrup­tions, Generating the praise of his Incorruptible Generosity and Eternal Generation: So much, Light & Night, Issue, as it were Male & Female, so much Ofspring of the Day and of the Darknesse, by The spirit of God Moving vpon the face of the Water (Gen. 1. 1.) So many spirits Flowing from the Father of All spirits: So many Beings Ari­sing from the Fountaine of All Being: So many things, that of themselues Are not that they Are, but in and through him, who of himselfe Is that He Is, and Ever Is, and was, and shall be that He Is: when as nothing Is without Respect of the Diffusion of His Goodnesse, with­out Reference to the Raising of His power, and without Dependencie from Him, who Dependeth of no other but Himselfe:

Because we may not place Him in any Other, wee must needes put him still in the Predicament of Relati­on of his owne praises.

Now (Right Worshipfull, and all alike well Belo­ved in Christ Iesus) let it not be, tedious vnto you, a little more to make you acquainted▪ or else to re­new your acquaintance, with the variety of Interpre­tations [Page 31] which may not yeeld vs some good matter of Exhortation and Instruction. As also, that it may the better appeare, that we range not beyond all authori­ty in the things we speake vnto you: as the manner of some is, whose wit (whilest you are glad to bee tickled with it) outrunneth their discretion. [...], as S. 2. Cor. 11. 19 Paule speaketh) yee suffer them sweetly, it Delighteth you to heare them. Yee ought also to heare willingly the Dayes Mercurian Report: [...], their goodly & Godly Eloquence, whence Sc. ab eius Radice, per in ver sioncm.(saith Avenarius) [...] had his name: [...], their words, their words of Excellency, their pleasing words at wil, whence verbal Sc. reducend. ad Orig. Hebr. potius quam inde quod C [...]cus suerit, vt qui­dam putavêre. puto inde, quia ingenii, verbo­rum, & rci poe­ticae Choragus: Pre quo, & sine quo, ceteri poe­ie, imo & philo­sophi, [...]ordent & coecutiuat. Quem. inquit Velleius, [...] siquis coecum genitum [...] Homer, as is likely, had his name. [...].

Some vnderstand these words Allegorically; As if by One Dayes telling another were meant, that Christ told his Apostles: or, (as others haue) Sapiens Sapienti, Sancti Sanctis, Electi Electis, Christiani Christianis: and, vnder the Nights Certifying, Iudaei Iudaeis (That which together with Iudaei Christianis, & Christiani Iudaeis, might also be placed vnder the Dayes Telling, having all one subiect with the Nights Certifying.)

Of this sort are, Asterius (among the Greeke Scho­liasts,) Cassiodore, Bonaventure, and others.

It is true indeed that Christ spake vnto his Apostles the Glory of GOD. For t'was that which he sought, & not his owne glory. And I would, Beloved, that the same minde were in you all, which was in Christ Iesus. I would wise men vnto wise men, Saints vnto Saints, the Elect vnto the Elect, Christians vnto Christians, yea Chri­stians vnto Iews, Iews vnto Christians, each one vnto a­nother [Page 32] did relate and recount, so as this Text beareth, the praise and honour of their GOD. I would not thē stand against th' Allegoricall sense of these words, so much as now I doe: And that is no more, but by hol­ding with them who haue stood for the Litteral. I dc­ny not, but that both the Golden Apple, and the Sylv [...]r Net wherein it is, that is, (as some haue beene concei­ted) Inter quos Rabbi Moses il­le Aegyptius vi de Pet. Galatin. de arcanis lib. 1. cap. 6.the mysticall and the litteral sense, would doe well together to set forth The Dayes Report in his richest co­lours (to speake improperly) of Or and Argent. For which purpose we also hereafter, if GOD will, shall choose out the purest of that Gold, to overlay the Dayes Report with Or, orna­ment of orna­ments. vt E­zech. 16. 7. iuxta▪ Heb.chiefest ORnament. But because the silver hath here lesse alay in it, and is more war­rantable, then the gold; I therefore covet rather, especi­ally at this time, to take part with them, who are en­quested for the Sylver Sense.

These are not all of one minde neither. And yet not of so diverse, but that all their vnderstandings may stand wel together, and may concurre, for the making vp of a fuller and more plentifull sense: Or else each of them may well stande by it selfe, each one making a milder and more easie meaning by it selfe.

Three, yea foure (or more) litteral Expositions are past already. Caietane expoundeth the whole verse thus: In successu dierum & noctium generatur in nobis ex coelestibus notitia: tum quia vna dies aut vna nox non sufficit: sed quod videtur vna nocte de astris, principium est ad sciendum in alia nocte: & quod visum est in vna ae­state, principium est ad sciendum in alia: & quod visum [Page 33] est in vna aestate, principium est ad sciendum in alia. Et quod visum est in vna Eclipsi, principium est ad sciendum in alia. Et sic de similibus coeli motibus, actionibus, & effe­ctibus. One Day is not sufficiēt, but there must be more: One to tell another. By What is done such a day or such a night, or in such a time of the year, in such a yeare; We learn what may be done another the like Day, or Night, or in the same time of the yeare, another yeare. By what falleth out in one Eclips, wee gather what may befall in another Eclipse. And so is there bred in vs knowledge of the motions, ope­rations, and effects of the heavenly bodies, even by One Dayes telling another. One Day telleth another.

So likewise Lyra vnderstandeth these words, of the variations of the Daies caused by the motions of the heavens. Variatio dierum (saith he) secundum longitudi­nem & brevitatem, caliditatem & frigiditatem, & alias variationes quae per motum coeli causantur, & secundum certas periodos reiterantur, ostendit potentiam & sapien­tiam motoris primi, scz. DEI. The variation of the Dayes according to their length and shortnesse, lengthning and shortning, according to their heat and cold, and other such like variations, & diversities, caused by the motions of the heavens, & reiterated according to their certaine periods, Sheweth their Power, and Wisdome of the First Mover, that is, of GOD. And in like sort Munster to haue vnder­stood the words of my Text, will appeare in the se­cond Generall part. One Day telleth another.

The Litterall sense that I [...]nscnius bringeth of these words, besides the affinitie it hath with some alreadie mentioned, inclineth much to that of Dionysius Car­thusianus: [Page 34] who entertaineth in these wordes, (that which well he may) a Metonymie: whereby The Day is said to doe that, which is done in the day; to Tell that, which is told in the day. Hence Brentius here transla­teth, Singulis diebus annunciat verbum. The knowledge of God encreaseth dayly, And (according to that last ex­position, which the Ordinary glosse here bringeth Viz. Quòd haec doctrina diebus & necti­bus continuatur vs (que) ad poster [...]s.) is both by Day & Night continued vnto all posteritie; The workes of GOD, or men by the workes of God, doe from Day to Day, shew the Glory of his kingdome, and talke of his Power. So too One Day telleth another.

Rabbi Schlomohs exposition is, (like to some before going) that every Day and every Night with their cō ­tinuall course and order, doe ioyne together in the ce­lebration of the Power and wisedome of GOD. One Day Telleth another.

Abraham Ezra taketh the meaning of the words to be (the same which before yee heard out of Bucer vp­on the word [...]) That every day bringeth forth some new worke or other of the Almighties: Because eve­ry day, (and so every Night too) vttereth & discloseth some new matter, in which the power, wisdome, and goodnesse of GOD, is in a new maner, and after a pecu­liar sort made manifest.

Quidam ad eas laudes, quas à patribus acceperunt, ad­dunt aliquam suam, saith Cicero De Offic. lib. 1. So doth the Day, Be­loued, even every Day, besides that which it receiueth of the precedent dayes, as of his Auncestors or Prede­cessors▪ Add still some new matter of his owne, where­by GODS name is magnified. As if vix ea nostra voco, [Page 35] were his motto. Who saith, that that which was done yesterday, is done To Day? No more is that our doing, much lesse our deseruing, which others haue perfor­med. Let every man proue his own worke (saith the Apo­stle Gal. 6. 4, 5.) and then shall he haue reioycing in himselfe, and not in another. Even as every Day hath something of his owne, something done To Day, whereby hee gladly sheweth forth GODS Glory, as all his Predecessors did. One Day tellerh another.

Of like meaning are these words, in the iudgement of some (who iudge not amisse neither) with that of the heathen mens (but whose it is, is not yet well de­termined) Discipulus est prioris posterior dies. The later Day is the former Dayes scholler, or Disciple. Hence Bucer here translateth, Dies diem docet, One Day Teacheth ano­ther.

Omnis res anterior posteriori norman praeministravit, saith Tertulliā Adversin Marcionem. l. a.. Every fore-going thing prescribeth, is as t'were a patterne, or a samplar, vnto that which followeth. Inquire of the former age, saith Iob. Iob. 8. 8. And, I haue considered the dayes of old (saith David) & the yeares that are past. Psal. 77. 5. Inquire now of the Dayes that are past, saith Moses, (Deu. 4. 32.) which were before thee, since the Day that GOD created man vpō the earth, &c. And Deut. 32. 7. Remember the dayes of old: (saith Moses too) consi­der the yeares of so many generations. For, One Day telleth another.

To the full meaning and vnderstanding of which words, it is as true, and all as pertinent too, that Prior dies posterioris est discipulus; The former day is also the la­ter [Page 36] dayes scholler, or disciple. One Day telleth another. The former day telleth the later, and the later the for­mer. The first the Chalde Translation seemeth to mee to haue aimed at by their word of Diminution. The se­cond also, by their word of Addition. And this later a­greeably vnto that, which before yee heard out of Bu­cer. That the Later Day telleth the former Day, this the heathen men saw also, as well as they did the other. Hence is that of Aeschylus [...]. 955, [...]. Time as it groweth older and older, so it will in­forme thee better, it will teach thee more and more. And hence is that of Demea in Terence Adelph. Act. 5 Scen. 4.: Nunquam ita quis­quam benè subductâratione ad vitam fuit; quin res, aetas, vsus semper aliquid apportet noui: aliquid moneat, vt illa quaete scire credas, nescias: & quae tibi putâris prima, in experiundo repudies. This, especially if with the Apo­stle we preferre it to a higher sense, may well serue to allay the puffe of knowledge in vs. 1. Cor. 8. 2. If any man thinketh that he knoweth any thing, hee knoweth nothing yet, as he ought to doe. For, One Day telleth another.

Finally, if yee will haue the full and whole meaning of these words together, according to their farthest bout and circumference, respecting especially The Matter of the Dayes Report: I must needes hold with The Rab­bins. See Bu­cers preface to the Psalmsthem, for this one place of holy Scripture, who avouched that every passage thereof was Seaventie manner of wayes to be interpreted. For I say not, that this place of holy Scripture may beare Interpretati­on seaventy manner of wayes; But, seauenty times sea­venty. For Every Day, Every way considered, telleth eve­ry [Page 37] Day every way considered, the Ever Ever-Ever la­sting Glory of the Lord. So hath, One Day told another ever since the beginning; So doth, so shall, so may One Day tell another, [...], as S. Peter 2 Pet. 3. 18. Ecclus 42. 21. He is from E­verlasting to Everlasting. &, 39. 20, H [...] seeth frō E­verlasting to Everlasting. [...], For Ever and Ever. H [...]. 1, 8 Exod 15 18. For Ever and Evertor, For Ever and yet longer, [...]. Graec. [...].speaketh, for Euer and a Day, a Day of Evermore, And I would it could be 2 Pet. 3. 18. Ecclus 42. 21. He is from E­verlasting to Everlasting. &, 39. 20, H [...] seeth frō E­verlasting to Everlasting. [...], For Ever and Ever. H [...]. 1, 8 Exod 15 18. For Ever and Evertor, For Ever and yet longer, [...]. Graec. [...].more then for Evermore. Amen.

To God the Father, the Sonne, and the Holy Ghost, three persons one God immortal, invisible, and only wise; even to God, who is that he is, Be rendred and ascribed all praise, honour, glory, power, maiestie, kingdome, and dominion, both now, and throughout all Eter­nity.

Amen.

IN these wordes (that which Part. 2.partly appeareth by that which heretofore hath beene saide on them, and that which is agreed vpon by all the best Expositors) there is contained a Prosopopoeia, Elegans Prosopopoeia, an elegant Prosopopoeia, as Iunius & Tremel­lius, and others haue tearmed it.

Hoc, Eructat verbum, (saith Theodoret on my Text) & Indicat scientiam, & Enarrant gloriam Dei; non ani­mata As some haue thought Hun [...] mundum animal esse. Cic in Timpo. & vid. Comen­tater. in Damas­cen. lib. 2. orth. sidei, cap. 6. in fine.esse quae videntur, docet: verùm est quaedam Proso­popoeia homines docens, ab his quae videntur, ad opificem, qui minimè cernitur, pervenire, & illi hymnorum canti­lenam afferre. That is, This same One Day telleth another, and, One Night certifieth another, and, The heauens de­clare the Glory of God, argueth not, the Heavens, the Dayes, [Page 40] or the Nights, to be liuing * creatures indued with voice, Speech [...], &c. Da­mascen. Or­thod. fid. lib. 2. cap. 6. in fine.and Language: But t'is a kinde of Prosopopoeia, whereby men are taught by the visible things of this world to be brought to the invisible Creatour of them, and so to bring and sing vnto him praise, Glory, & Thankesgiuing. Coelt & singult dies eo Deum et eius opera praedicant, quòd nobis praedicandi materiam exhibent, saith Bucer: the hea­vens and the Dayes are therefore said to declare Gods Glo­ry, to praise his workes, and to publish the same one vnto a­nother, because they yeeld vs matter of so doing. Singulis * a [...], &c: & paulò pòst: [...], (to wit, by rea­ding that same [...], &c: interro gatiuely: of which he had there spoken before) [...]. Athanasius in Fragment. Commentar▪ in Psal. ex Niceta.diebus ade [...] (que) singults momentis Deus manifesta sui testi­monie edit; & corum consideratione in cognitione Deide die in diem proficimus▪ saith Gualter. Every day, yea and e­very moment God sheweth forth manifest tokens and testi­monies of himselfe, by consideration whereof we are from Day to Day more and more furthered in the knowledge of God. Nec intelligas (saith Caietan) coelos narrare & an­nunciare loquendo, sed materiam narrationis & annun­ciationis praebendo. We may not thinke that the heavens do declare, or that the dayes tell one another by speaking, but by ministring matter for speech and declaration. And (as Dionysius Carthusianus speaketh) Dicuntur coeli enarrare Gloriam Dei, si [...]ut dicuntur benedicere Deo, eum (que) lauda­re, videlicet quoniā praebent intuentibus occasionem at (que) materiam contemplande Creatoris potentiam, sapientiam, & perfectionem. The heavens (and so likewise the Day & [Page 41] the Night) are said to declare the Glory of God, in that sense that they are said to blesse the Lord, and to praise his name: to wit, because they furnish their spectatours with matter and occasion of contemplating the power, wisdome, and perfection of their Creatour. According to that of Isay (Isa. 40. 26.) Lift vp your eies on high, and behold who hath created these things. Finally this One Dayes telling to another, is like vnto that in the 12 of Iob. v. 7, 8. Aske now the beasts, and they shall teach thee: and the fowles of the heaven, and they shall tell thee: or speake to the earth, & it shall shew thee: or the fishes of the sea, and they shall de­clare vnto thee. Thee, and, vnto Thee.

So it is indeed; vnto Men, for Mans sake, for his Learning, ad hominus vtilitatem, for Mans Profit, as Theodoret here speaketh, that one day telleth another. Illi audiunt tanquam verbum eructuatum, (saith S. Au­stin) illi tanquam scientiam annunciatam. Quodenim ru­ctuatur, praesentibus ructuatur: They (that is, men) doe heare as it were a word, and as it were knowledge vttered vnto them▪ for looke what is vttered, is vttered vnto them in their owne persons. One day inciteth vs by one thing, another by another, as anone yee shall heare out of Munster. The noise that they make is like the voice of a cryer vnto Vs, like an Oyes wherby Our hearing is re­quired. Their sounding and resounding, their [...] & [...] is a catechising vnto vs. In the 145. Psalme, whē the Prophet David had said, All thy workes praise thee, O Lord &c. They shew the mightinesse of thy kingdome, & talke of thy power; he addeth immediatly (the end there­of) That thy power, thy glory, and mightinesse of thy king­dome, [Page 42] might be knowne vnto men, v. 10, 11, 12. And how ever it be of that that is done; sure we are, that what is written is written for our learning. Rom 15▪ 4.

Let vs therefore obserue for our instruction, that which was last spoken of the Dayes Speaking: The Ma­ner of it; how that it is but by a Prosopopoeia. And it may well teach vs our dutie. Vs, Men & Women, who on­ly were made to be the speech-sounding letters in the whole Alphabet of the Creation. For (alas) the Day indeed soundeth GODS prayses; But how doth it sound them? Truely, wee must lend a figure to that sounding speech and speaking sound, or else it will bee neither sound nor speech. Only we, wee men and women, can truely and properly speake GODS praises, if we will. We only haue speech and language, and haue it only to that purpose. Our Tongue and Speech are our on­ly Quia licet humana digni­tas ab anima rationali pen­deat, ca tamen cum sit invisibi­lis, nulla quâ­piam aliâ re magis cognosci­tur, qu [...]m [...]ra­tio [...]e. P. Mar­tyr ibid. Vid Postel. De O [...]ig [...]nibus▪ fac. 1 See also the Last Sermon: where, of one Dayes telling a word] or, Speech]apparant Glory aboue other creatures; whence [...] (Cauod) in Hebrew signifieth both Glory & Toung. As P. Martyr well noteth in his common place of the Resurrection, sect. 28. Psal. 16. 9. Gen. 49. 6. my Glory, that is, my Tongue. Or is it so rather, because our tongue should alwaies be sounding forth the Glory of GOD? of GOD, who is our Glory, Ier. 2. 11. And, Let him that glorieth ( [...]) glory in the Lord. 1. Cor. 1. 31.

And yet see, whether the Day be not more forward in sounding forth, & speaking the praises of our GOD, yea evē vnto vs our selues, rhen are we: which should be the only speakers in this lower house of the Parlia­ment of GODS praises. For, heare what the Prophet David saith in the next verse vnto my Text, accor­ding [Page 43] vnto most Translations: There is neither speech nor language, but their voices are heard among them. And in the next to that: Their sound is gone out into all lands and their words into the ends of the world. And as Iunius and Tremellius haue very well translated the former verse, Non est sermo, ne (que) verba eis; & sine his intelligi­tur vox eorum. They haue neither speech nor words, and yet is their voice very intelligible. According to that of S. Chrysostome (vpon that, The heavens declare the glory of God) [...]. &c. Tell me, how doe they declare the Glory of GOD? They haue no voice, they are not possest of any mouth, & tongue they haue none at all. How then doe they declare the Glory of GOD? By their sight, saith he. And afterwardes he de­clareth, how [...] to wit, [...]. By our seeing of them we fall to thinking, to considering of them, to vnderstanding this and that out of them. And that, whē we behold such beautifull crea­tures as are the heavens, & the Dayes of heauen: whē we see in the one [...] ▪ Such Beautie, such Great­nesse, such Height, such Site and position, such Frame and Fashion, so sufficient so long time to endure: In the other, [...], other things as great as those, such Co [...]sonancie and Modulation, such Order and Moderation, so Exact and Cu­rious: We should [...]. Adore and worship him, who hath made them such faire and beautifull bodies, passing not only our per­fect [Page 44] vnderstanding, but even our conceits capacitie. For if we only looke and gaze on them, though to the ende of the Horizon: if wee onely note every Horoscope, and not apply such admirable sights to their right ende & vse, his Glory, who hath exhibited them vnto vs, what great matter, quid tanto hiatu dignum, haue wee done? Even as little children, who when they should learne their lessons, doe nothing but looke vpon the painted babery of their bookes: being loth to bee gu [...]ltie of more learning, then is the gilt of the cover, or the leaues; and skilling no more of the Text, then the Text hand letters come vnto; Lastly, getting no more fruit of all their schooling, then is vpon the fig tree in the end of their Accidence.

If either Sight or Hearing, or both of them to­gether may ought profite vs in knowledge: we haue not wanted ether of the Heavens, or of the Day or of the Night, sufficient information. [...]. Such is their sound, that it may be heard of all men: nor only such is the heavens sound, but such is the sound of the Day & of the Night also▪ For they doc [...], ring lowd in their eares that see them, stunne and astonish their beholders: whilest [...]. Their sight, or sight­linesse, sendeth forth a voice more shrill then any trumpet, as S. Chrysostome speaketh. yea so farforth, as that the very invisible things of God Rom. 1. 20. are made manifest vnto mē by this their speech, their voice, their words. As shall farther be declared, when we shall come to speak of [Page 45] the Matter of their speech.

Now I would to God we that haue voices did as much as these doe, that haue no voices; & our words were as these their words, which yet are no words. I would their [...] did not put our [...] downe. For so neerely in the Greeke doth their sound imitate our voice, & so far indeeed doth their [...] Which sig­ni [...]ieth indif­fer [...]tly ei­ther Sounding, or Speaking. [...] exceede and surmount ours; a thing, I say not in reason, but in reasoning absurd, that both Kindes should not equally participate their Genus. The Dayes, though they haue not [...] (voice) properly as we haue, yet haue they [...]. (Discords, Shrilnesse, Harmo­ny) Clemens Alexandrinus [...]. p. 2hath suted them all three in one sentence: [...]). The dis­agreeing (or, iarring) Elements hath God by the stroke (or touch) of his hand reduced into an orderly lowdnesse (or shrill tuneablenes:) that so, by an harmonicall concent in sundry tunes, the whole world might make him See that which here­after in this Sermon is in the Margent noted out of Austin, de ci­vit. Dei, lib. 11. cap. 18. melodie.

First the Daies are indeed Different in their sounds. [...], saith Hesiod. One Day is as a mother, another as a stepmother vnto man. For when man would needes know evill, as well as good: no marveile, if he reapt fruit accordingly, To know Omnis Dits, omnis Hora, qu [...]m ni [...]il si­mus ostendi [...], & aliqu [...] argume­to rec [...]nti [...]dmo­n [...] fragi [...]itat [...] oblitos, Senec, epist. 101. i [...] initio.the evill Day, what it meant, as well as the good Day: the Day of death, as well as the Day of life, the Day of damnation, if he take not heed, as well as the Day of salvation. What then, Beloved? but that therefore yee walke circumspectly, not as fooles, but as wise, redeeming the time: because the dayes are evill. Ephes. 5. 15, 16. And [Page 46] that good Dayes follow good deedes, evill Dayes e­vill deeds, is not to be doubted. For, If any man long af­ter life & to see good dayes, let him refraine his tongue frō evill, and his lips that they speake no guile: Let him eschew evill, and doe good: Let him seeke peace, and follow after it, &c: as both the Prophet David, and th' Apostle haue Psal 34. 12, 13, 14, 15. & 1. Pet 3. 10. 11, 12, 13.spoken.

One Day telleth another. Non habet officium Lucifer omnis idē, saith the Poët Ovid. de Fa­stis, immediat­ly before that heretofore cited, Ille Ne­fastus erit, &c.: Every Day hath not the same office, serues not altogether for the same purpose. And as Solomon saith (Prov. 27. 1.) Thou knowest not what a Day may bring forth. The yeere is like vnto a pleasant fielde or garden in which are set the Dayes like vnto diverse pleasant plants or fine flowres, each one having his severall sweet smell and savour. Aliter olet flos vuae, a­liter flos oliuae, aliter flos rosae, aliter flos lilij, aliter flos vio­lae, aliter redolet spica, &c: as elegantly saith S. Gregory, in his fifth homily vpon Ezechiel. The rose Vid Ecclus. 39, 13, 14. hath his proper sweet smell by it selfe: the lily Vid Ecclus. 39, 13, 14. by it selfe, the violet by it selfe, the pinke by it selfe, the gyllyflower by it selfe, the carnation by it selfe, and so of the rest: So every Day hath his severall temper and temperature, whether it be of First or Second, Actiue or Passiue, certaine of most rare qualities: most certainely, of most rare acci­dents: whereby it smelleth sweetly vnto GODS Glory. One Day inciteth and inviteth vs by wholesome raine, another by faire and dry weather: one by frost, ano­ther by snow: one by hot, another by cold weather: one by calme and milde weather, another by stormes of haile; by lightning and by thunder: as in effect Mun­ster [Page 47] hath very well noted on my Text Vid. Eccl [...] ▪ 42. v. 24 &. But because this hath heretofore beene touched by me in the first generall part, I will beare of (if so you will beare with me) another way. The Church of Christ is also likened vnto such a garden or field as last I spake of. For so S. Gregory vnderstādeth that, Gen. 27. 27. Which is there spoken by Isaac vnto Ia [...]ob in blessing of him, Beholde the smell of my sonne is as the smel of a field which the Lord hath blessed. And Cant. 4. 12. The Church is called a garden incloased.

The variety of sweete and good smels in so goodly a garden what are they? Bonus odor Christi est praedieatio veritatis. The sweet savour of Christ, is the preaching of the truth, saith S. Austin. And Thankes be vnto God, (say we with S. 2. Cor. 2. 14. 15. Paule) which alwaies maketh vs to tri­umph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by vs in every place. For we are vnto God the sweete savour of Christ, &c. [...]. O, saith Austin by oc­casion of those words, Felices qui bono odore vivunt, Quid autē infelicius illis qui bono odore moriuntur? Hap­py are they which liue by such a sweet smell: But what more vnhappy then those, whom such a sweet smell killeth? Yes; they are more vnhappy, which die with Variety of good smels. Who, when Christ is preached by so ma­ny of vs, after so many diverse manners of preaching, (as partly the Dayes Emphony shall declare) yet it is vnto them The savour of death vnto death, and not the savour of life vnto life; And that for want of the Grace of Gods Holy Spirit to Blow vpon them (Cant. 4. 16.) that so that other sweet and good smell and sauour of Christ, [Page 48] those Fragrant and Odoriferous Spices, to wit, The pra­ctise of vertue, and the True Worship of God, may Flow out▪ Aromata nempe Adoramenta delectabilia sunt, &c: (saith Sim. de cass­in 4 ^or Evang. l. 13. Sect. sed Christus.one) True Adoration is Aromaticall Delight: & there is no smell to the spirituall smelling more delectable in this life, then of Vertues Flowers. But to recover me to the Dayes Diaphony againe; it is but Discors Concordia. They all agree in the shewing forth of his Glory, and giving vs good instructions. Such like discords hath Ovid. Met▪ lib. 10▪he knowne, whoever— tentavit pollice chordas,

Concordare modos. Such like discords hath the Apo­stle S. Paul exhorted vs vnto, whē he would haue one to draw one way, another, another way, for the more glorious building vp of the Church of Christ. But how is that? some to hold of Paul, some of Apollos? or that there should be strife, envying, wrath, contenti­ons, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, & discord, or tu­multuousnes ( [...])? 2. Cor. 12. 20. No, no, Beloued; but every man to follow diligently his owne vocatiō, to doe his owne businesse with singlenesse of heart, and synceritie: according to the diversities of gifts which we haue according to the grace that is giuen vs. As there at large, by the similitude of diverse members in one body, and diuersities of offices of the members, the Apostle hath declared.

A second kind of diphonie required in vs, is: That wee should not be vnequally yoked, as the Apostle speaketh, 2. Cor. 6 14. Haue no fellowship with the vnfruit full workes of darknesse, but euen reproue them rather, E­phes. [Page] 5. 11. The Day, Beloued, hath no commerce or cō ­ferēce with the Night, but with the Day. For, One Day telleth another. So if wee, that are children of the Day, (1. Thess. 5. 5.) haue any communion, or communica­tion with, or about night-matters, a great chance but the Day shall declare it. 1. Cor. 3. 13. for, One Day telleth an other.

A third kind of Diphony there is, that which S. Bernard Super Cantic. serm. 85. hath▪ vt dissentias tecum, vt tibimet adverse­ris, vt gravi & vigili lucta tu ipse contra teipsum infati­gabilitèr praelieris: postremo, vt valefacias inveteratae cō ­suetudini, innatae (que) affectioni. For a man to dissent from himselfe, to oppose himselfe against himselfe, to striue and struggle earnestly, and vigilantly with himselfe, to bee in­fatigable in so encountering with himselfe, Finally, to [...]as­seere his inveterated evill customes, and his inbred affecti­ons.

This contrarying and contradicting of one selfe, is in some sort to be seene in that which One Day telleth another. For Contradictories, though not at the same time; yet the same Day, and in divers respects▪ they may be true. And many times the very same Day re­porteth things that are cleane contrary. Witnesse, sorrow & heavines, at the death of our late Queene: ioy and heavenlinesse, at the raigne of our gratious Soveraigne; And all this in one Day: or else, heauinesse continuing for a night, ioy came in the morning. One day so much differing from it selfe, to teach vs one day to become new men. One Day Telleth another.

Secondly, the daies are [...], shrill and sounding, [Page 50] as already yee haue heard. But here we may heare the dutie both of Priest and People. The first I beseech by the things which now they see, and quae sunt oculis subiecta fidelibus: by the example of the Day, which now they cānot choose but eie, vnlesse they shut their eyes of purpose, that they would bee still more and more [...]. Too raw, too young yet to speake, & to shew a mans selfe in such an assēbly. If the Day should so say of it selfe, wee had missed of his light in this As­sembly. And if it should stay vntill it came to ripenesse of yeares, yea or of dayes: it would never come vnto vs, we should never see it. for, lo, to morrow it is gone. His voice doth not serue him to preach. So it seemes. And yet it is as good as the Dayes voice, if there bee any comparison betwixt them. For the Day (as yee haue heard) hath indeed no voice at all: and yet in the preaching and predicating of GODS praises it hath a shriller voice then any trumpet, as hath beene told you out of S. Chrysostome▪ Behold I cannot speake for I am Ierem. 1. a child: would not serue the Prophet Ieremiahs turne. Nor here will it serue the Dayes turne, or excuse it for not telling forth GODS Glory, because it hath no voice to tell it withall. One Day Telleth another.

The People also are here taught to preach GODS Glory, & the congregation to talke of his praise. For who made the Day a Deacon, or a Priest? or else who ever gaue him Letters of Orders? yet is he still a preaching vnto vs the Glory of GOD, that placed him in such an order. Ought not we much rather to bee alwaies tel­ling of his praise, who hath made vs of an higher Or­der [Page 51] then the Day, and of an higher calling to call vpon him.

And this is the rather spokē, because of some, who, because they are not in Orders, care not how disorder­ly they liue▪ and because they are not Priests, care not how prophanely: because they are of the Laitie, care not how lewdly they cary themselues in wordes and workes and conversation. Forgetting all the while Om [...]es iusti Sa­cerdo [...]alem ha­bent ordinem. I­ren [...]us. lib. 4. cap. 20. Greg. Mag.their Spirituall Priesthood, Rev. 1. 6. Rom. 12. 1. their Holy Priesthood, 1. Pet. 2. 5. As if that required neither holy­nesse of them, nor fruits of the spirit▪ Iustus quis (que) etiam viuēdo loquitur. Every good man speaketh & preacheth by his Good Life: saith S. Gregory. And that this is the best kind of speaking and of preaching, and that which gi­veth all laudable act and perfection therevnto, either in Priest or People, S. Austin (De Doctrina Christiana, lib. 4 cap. 28, & 29) hath at large declared. Where a­mongst other things, Si autē ne hoc quidem potest, saith he, ita conversetur, vt non solùm praemium sibi comparet, sed etiam praebeat alijs exemplum, & sit ei quasi copiae dicē ­di forma viuendi. If it be so with a man, that he cannot be a preacher, for that he wants both wisdome and e­loquence of speech; (for so S. Austin determineth of it) Then let him, yea he must bee a preacher in conver­sation and holinesse of life. Let his holy and orderly living serue him insteed of holy Orders, his formal ca­riage and demeanure serue him insteed of a conciona­tory speech most eloquently performed. And this kind of speaking & of preaching GODS Glory (where­vnto all, both Priest and People, are liable) commeth [Page 52] neerest of all to the Dayes telling one another in this place, which is by the due observing of the ordinance of the Dayes and Nights and Heavens Ordinary.

One Day telleth another. The third and last is, the Dayes [...], the Daies Harmonie. [...], &c. As excel­lently saith S. Chrysostome [...]. ad popul. Antioch.by occasion of the words of my Text. For like See that next in the Margent ci­ted out of Theodoret, de provident Serm. 1. [...]. Act. [...]8. 25. as sisters dividing their fathers in­heritance betwixt them, doe it with great good loue and li­king on each part, they take their owne lot contentedly, nei­ther of them intruding vpon the others right: So the Day and the Night haue the yeare parted evenly betwixt them, with as great aequality and aequabilitie. Which may wel teach vs to agree better then we doe. We goe to law, we wrangle, we brabble, wee cavill and fall out about small matters: whilst the Day with the Night, one day with another, never yet was at strife and variance, ne­ver iarred about matters of as great moment as con­cerneth their whole estate, and as necessary as Light and Darknesse, Day and Night.

One Day telleth another. Here too (in S. Chrysostomes vnderstanding) is a lesson for the covetous carle. [...] (saith he) [...]. Heare yee this yee covetous, and greedy of other mens money: imitate the Day and Nights equalitie & equabilitie, The Day pil­leth not or polleth, it taketh nothing from his fellow, but giveth him rather, that which he hath to giue. For One Day telleth another.

[Page 53] It fareth with the Dayes in the yeere, as they say it doth with fruitfull trees and plants in some places of Barbary: where they plant vnder the Date tree, the O­liue tree: vnder the Oliue, the figge tree: vnder that the Pomegranate▪ vnder it, the Vine: vnder the Vine, they sow Wheat: and vnder Wheat, pulse: all prospe­ring one vnder the others shadow, & yeelding their fruit the same yeere. So all the Dayes of the yeere are as it were planted one vnder the other, & one aboue the other: some are higher, some lower; and placed are they Secundum sub & supra, making vp as it were a whole Predicament of GODS praises. The predica­ting whereof is the fruit they all beare, they all beare the same yeere, whilest the one still prospereth & cō ­meth vp vnder the Night and shadow of the other.

This may shew vnto vs our duty & condition. For we are all placed in this world, yea evē in this Realme, in like sort as the Dayes: one vnder another, one in higher, another in lower place: alvnder one Summum Genus as it were, one most noble Soveraigne. He is vnto vs, as the Sunne to the Dayes that be vnder him: (for Gen. 1. 16. 18. and Psal. 136. 8. The Greater Light was made to rule the Day) or, (to speake too little of him) he is as the date tree to those that be vnder him. He hath even the oliue tree vnder him, the figge tree, and the vine. These three trees, Iudg. 9. wil teach vs that are Subiects our duties, evē as the daies of the yeare doe teach vs too. These seek not Superiority one over the other; but look in what place GOD hath set them, be it better or worse, higher or lower, formost or hinder­most, [Page 54] That they keepe, & therein keepe the ordinan­ces which GOD hath appointed them. [...], as saith S. Chrysostome vpon the words of my Text. They (the Dayes) keepe themselues within their owne bounds and li­mits, and the one seeketh not to extrude the other. Nay & he saith farther: [...]. Heare yee this, yee high­minded, and that are puffed vp, and who are loth to giue place, and yeld superiority vnto others, (or who having once gotten into office, are loth to leaue the same againe for others) The Day giveth place vnto the Night, & encroch­eth not vpon that that ought not to bee his: But thou still having and taking the fruition of honour & preferment, canst not abide thy brother to haue & take part with thee. The dayes they intend to let their light shine, to shine vpon the earth. Gen. 17. to giue light vpon the earth. v. 15. Mat 5. 16.I▪ would ye did intend nothing else, but to let your light so shine before mē, that they seeing your good works, might glorifie your Father which is in heaven. And I would yee did not rather striue for Superioritie, for higher pla­ces, and one to goe before another.

Hence are men now-adaies so prone to conspiracy, treason, and rebellion▪ because they are so vnlike the Dayes of the yeare, whilst they cannot stay til it com­meth to their turnes to be exalted. Yee may see▪ by the example of the Oliue▪ the Fig-tree, and the Vine, (Iudg. 9.) That they that beare good fruit indeed, wil not [Page 55] haue a kingdome, that appertaineth not to them, no though it be offered them▪ but rather giue themselues to follow diligently that vocation, wherevnto they are called: so seeking to glorifie GOD, yea and to cheare him too, by the fruit of good living, like vnto the fat­nesse of the Oliue, the sweet and good fruit of the Fig-tree, and the wine of the vine. But t'is the Bramble, or the Bryar, which beareth such bad fruit, who would ad­vance himselfe aboue the trees, & would haue all put their trust vnder his shadow. As if his shadow were a fit & sufficient shelter for the highest Cedars of Lebanon.

Wherefore, Beloued, be yee not like vnto the scrat­ching bramble, but to the good trees, that had rather liue vnder the shadow of another, and so bring forth fruite, not once a yeere only, but, like vnto the Tree of Life in the Reuelation, every Moneth of the yeare: yea E­very Day of the yeare, while it is called To Day. Because so doth every severall Day of the yeare. One Day Tel­leth another.

Here also, if we consider the Dayes and the Nights too in Relation to their Rulers and Governours: we shal farther see how they Relate Gods Glory; whilest they af­ford excellent instructions, both for the Rulers & Gui­des of GODS people, and also for the People themselues that are Guided and Governed.

For the first: they ought to be like vnto the Rulers of the Day and of the Night. They are, The Lights in the Gen. 3. & vid. Ier. 31. 35. Firmament of the Heaven; The Sunne, The Moone, & the Starres. Their Office two fold: To Rule, & To Giue Light. So by them The Heavens Declare the Glory of God, & the [Page 56] Firmament sheweth his Handy worke. So also by Kings & Rulers, whilest they are full of the Light of Knowledge, and not only Rule, but Giue Light too vpon the Earth; Their High Seas and Seates of Honour, their Thrones & Chaires of Estate Declare the Glory of God, and their Com­monwealths strong Firmament sheweth his Handy worke. Whilest, I say, there is no Day or Night, no Subiect so Darke and Ignorant, but hath a Vid▪ Ps. 2. 10. wise and Learned Ru­ler, and a Iudge, a Guide, a Leader well Iustructed. Such a one as in his place and calling, being himselfe Light­some, is very industrious in Giuing Light vnto his Day-and-Night Subiects and Inferiours.

Such a one as is, first & principally, Christ himselfe: who is [...], The End and perfection of all Kingly Glo­ry and Dominion: who should be First in their Intenti­on, that beare rule, yea and in their Attention too; as a perfect patterne and a most true Rule of well Ruling. Whose Dominion is from one end of the world vnto the other: Whose Throne is Everlasting: Whose Scep­ter is a Scepter of Righteousnesse: Who is that Sunne of Righteousnes, to whom in a Mysticall Sense the 5. and 6. verses of this Psalme are most sutable: and in Whom, as hereafter shall be shewed, the Glory of God is most resplendent.

But vnder him, and though in our Horizon Next & Immediatly, yet a great way after him: Such a one as is our King, (not to flatter him, but that GOD may be more and more Glorified by Him, and he incited to Run on, in being Next and Annexed to him in Giuing Light, to whom in Ruling he is Next) who is like vnto [Page 57] The Sunne (in the 5 ^th and 6 ^th verses of this Psalme) which commeth forth as a Bridegroome out of his chamber] Braue, and Chast, and vndefiled. And Reioyceth] in the Psal 19. v. 5, 6 Lord Psal. 104. 34 & 105. 3. & Phil. 4. 4. hartily, and in the Statuts Psal. 119. v. 14. V. 6. of the Lord, v. 8. As a Giant or strong man] whom nothing may put backe, or divert from his setled godly resolutions. To Runne his Course, or, Race] In the way Psal. 119. v. 1, 2, 3, 4, 27, 32, 33, 35. Gen. 18. 19. of Gods Commandements: from one End of Them, vnto the other: and therefore is Temperate in All things (1. Cor. 9. 25.) and that for the Ioy that is set before him (Heb. 12. 2.) To obtaine a Crowne Incorruptible (1. Cor. 9. 25.) and that same [...] 1. Cor. 9. 24▪ & Phil. 3 14. V. 6., Vid Ps. 119. v. 6 most Braue and Royall Reward of his well doing. For so In keeping of thē there is Great Reward, v. 11. And there­fore too he may well be seene to Runne] as Swiftly, as he runnes Gladly and Willingly: even to Runne] All the world over in One Day: having a Care of All his Subiects and through his zealous Heat, coupled with The Light of Knowledge, finding out all that is amisse and repug­nant to Gods Glory, and reforming it. And this not One Day only, but with continuall perseverance, [...] (Here the worthiest Title of a King) vnto the Ende Psal. 119. sect. 5. v. 1., vntill he come to him that is The beginning and the End, and to the hight of Gods Glory through him; And so: From Day to Day, from One Day to another, frō Day Tem­porall to Day Eternall. One Day Telleth another.]

Now likewise for the People: They may here learne and be admonished, not to attempt, speake, or imagin any Evill against their Rulers and Superiors: no more then doe the Dayes and the Nights; who to their Ru­lers oppose no vnrulines, neither withstand they their [Page 58] Lights, least they should stand in their own Light, and so be nothing else but Darknesse. As it fareth with thē who by Disobedience to their Guids and Governours, & by plotting mischiefe against thē, seeke to extinguish their owne Light: as though being wearie of ther Old Eyes, they would pluck them out, & so either see with the holes, or exchāge them for New. And being here­in so vnlike to Children of the Day, as that they are not to be reckoned Children of the Night: whilst they enter meddle with such hideous and prodigeous Workes of Darknes, as are not to bee found in the Blackest and the Darkest Night.

Againe, the People are here taught, concerning their Kings and Princes, Rulers and Leaders, Guides and Go­vernours: That though they be never so Good, never so well Allied, never so Wise & Learned, yea though they were Gods Signet vpon his Right hand (Ier. 22. 24.) yet they should not be Proud of thē, Glory in them, Presume on them, or put Vid. Psalm. 146. 2. & indo. &, 118 8, 9. & 104, 29. Trust or Confidence in thē; much lesse Adore them, & giue away Gods Glory vnto them.

All which not we only of this Land, but commonly All People of the world are, and haue beene, faultie in. Al which were more tolerable in the Dayes & Nights, then in any of vs all. For as much as their Seducements should be through greater Enticements Vid Iob. 31 26▪ 27. Deut. 4▪ 19.. Their Rulers are in Higher place, more Glorious, more Full of Light, then ours: and if Solomon in all his royaltie were not like vnto one of the Lilies of the Field; much lesse vnto all the lights of Heaven. Theirs are situated in a Firmament, ours in Infirmitie. Theirs haue a kinde of Everlasting [Page 59] Psal▪ 89. 35, 36. see more hereafter in this Sermon. permanencie: ours, as soone as God taketh away their Breath they die, and are turned againe to their Earth, and to their Dust. Their Rulers are of greater Might then ours. Witnesse, their Motions, Influences, and Operati­ons; their Oppositions, and Coniunctions, their severall Aspects, & the like: whereby they are of so great force, both by Sea and Land, and in the Aire: being Causers also of Generation, and Corruption: shewing thereby the Glory of the First Mover and Creator, and his Super­excellent Omnipotencie. And yet for all this, The Dayes and Nights are not Proud of them, Rely not on them, put no Affiance in them or their Alliance, desert not their Allegiance, Dutie, and Obedience to their Creatour, & to the Command of his Supremacie, because of them: they Glory not in them, but in him that made them, & made them (Day and Night, Light and Darknesse) be­fore such Rulers were set over them. They worship not the Creatures, but the Creator: finally they Report and Declare his glory, and not theirs: but so as theirs also re­doundeth to his glory, who is Blessed for ever.

Consider next, Beloved, how that wee haue a lon­ger time of continuance then hath the Day, & there­fore haue more Time to learne. And yet wee see we haue so played the Truants, that we are come to Day to be taught our dutie towards GOD, yea & our Prince too, of an Infant, that is but a Day old. For An­gustis [...]imum habet Dies gyrum, saith Seneca Epist. 12.. The Day hath but a narrow compasse. The Moneth is of a far grea­ter bout then he. The Yeere, like vnto one of the grea­ter Circles, is of a greater circuit then they both. The [Page 60] Day in Longevity like vnto the [...] Arist. lib. 5. Animal., if this bee not rather like vnto the Day. The Day but a Day old: & yet it addeth some knowledge vnto the Dayes of old.

Esse sinent. It doth but peepe into the world, and but shew it selfe as it were vpon the stage: and yet maketh it a Great shew of Gods Glory,

And doe Dayes Duty to his Or, God. Dieu. So that it may say with the Prophet David, I haue more vnderstāding then my Teachers, Psal. 119. Mem. v. 3. And in the next verse, I am wiser then the Aged. Dayes should speak (saith Iob. 32 7.he,) and Multitude of Yeeres should teach Wisdome. But, what? So much Wisdome in so Few yeeres? Few yeeres? Few Dayes. Few Dayes? yea and Few of Iob▪ 32 6. iuxta Heb. Dayes. As few, and of as few, as One. And yet that One not so long as One Day Naturall. And that One can be no more then Once: once expired, can not be reiourned: once past his terme, can haue no returne. For what? Veréne potest esse Dies saepiùs qui semel fuit? Certè non potest, saith the heathen Cic. de Finib. lib. 2. iuxta finēOrator. And yet for all that, so liberall is it of his little life, and short Time, to spend it to GODS Glory, and to mans behoofe, That (according to the I­talian Proverbe) Come la candela, fair' ben' a gli [...]altri & male a mistesso, Like the Candle, it burneth out it selfe, to giue Others Light. Like the Candle, of lesse Continuance then those to whom it giveth Light.

Yea & so as it were Quidam ex Arabam Gram maticis dictio­nes, quotquot vi Aliph vni [...] ­nis invic [...]m co­haerent & coa­lescunt, vno spi­ritu omnes, eti­amsi animam e [...]flare oporte­ret, nimis super­stitiose conten▪ dunt. Superstitiously liberall is the [Page 61] Day of his Little and short Breath in this point of Ser­vice; That, Gods Glory being as it were an Quidam ex Arabam Gram maticis dictio­nes, quotquot vi Aliph vni [...] ­nis invic [...]m co­haerent & coa­lescunt, vno spi­ritu omnes, [...]ti­amsi animam e [...]flare oporte­ret, nimis super­stitiose conten▪ dunt. Aliph of v­nion, wherby All the Dayes words are loyned together in One, the Day con [...]umeth it selfe in that One-Continu­all-All-Day-Long-Pronunciation, & never Once taketh breath, till it hath yeelded vp the Ghost.

We are so farre off from bestowing our Breath vp­on the Continual pronunciation of Gods Glory, and vpon the preserving of vnity of words, That we rather be­stow it in pronouncing the contrary, and in Disvniting of Things and persons. Our Tongues, our Wits, our Spirits, & our Liues, which we ought rather to spend in Keeping the vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4▪ 3.) are wasted to the dishonour of GOD, in making worse then Superstitious Diuisions, and separa­tions of Things that God hath ioined togither: yea and of Religion it selfe, vnder a pretence only of Religion, and of Gods Glory. This, and the like Expence, or Mispending rather, though it be of Life and Breath it selfe, vpon Gods Glory, and Mans Good, is but Equivocall, and Coun­terfeit: T'is Antichristian Scattering (Luk. 11. 23.) T'is no true tingling of our Hearts through the heate of Loue, and therefore but a Tinkling Cymball. In sūme, t'is but Hay and Stubble 1. Cor. 3., such as is made manifest by the Dayes Declaration, and Revealed by Fire: but shall not a­bide the Touch of This Dayes Declaration, if ye put thē together, & compare them, for likenesse: much lesse, of the Last Dayes Declaration and Fiery Tryal: when all Declaring Dayes shall Concurre, and concurring shal conspire to giue in most Evident proofes against vs,

[Page 62] How blame-worthy we are, spēding so much Breath indeede, and so many Dayes as we doe, to spend it and them as we doe: to spend so little, and of It and Them to spend so little in the Honour of God, (whose is the Day and the Night, Psal. 74. 17. and whole is the Spirit & the Breath, Iob. 34. 14. Et vid. Iob. 12. 10. Zech. 12. 1. Gen. 2. 7 &, Psal. 146. 1, 3. &, 150. v. 6.) and in the Releeuing of our poore distressed Brethren, a high point of Gods Honour too.

A high point is this of Gods Honour, To haue Respect vnto Low Things: A thing resembling Gods Goodnesse, a Pleasing Sacrifice vnto him, and to the Dayly Offering whereof All Dayes & Nights, together with their Ru­lers, doe invite vs. The one, like vnto the King of Hea­vens Amongrs, Disperse abroad, and giue Euery Day & Night the Light of his Beneficēce. The other, like thāk­full and kinde Almes folkes, shew vnto vs Men, what E­very Day and Night is given them.

The one and the other shew, and giue to vnder­stand, That what they giue, and what is given them, is given vnto vs: That, what every Day and Night is giuē, All is 1. Cor. 3. 21, 22 ours: That we should imitate their giving, or rather the perfection of his giuing, who is the Iam. 1. 17. Father of Lights, from whom every good and perfect gift Descen­deth: who 1. Tim 6. 17. giueth vs Abundantly All things to Enioy: who giveth vs Every Day our [...].

Where is such Dayly Bread, as al the Schollers in the world cannot expresse All that is given vs with That Bread. Bread, with such an Epithete, as sheweth Gods Glory by the weaknesse of mans capacity; with such an Adiection, as noteth the weakenes of mans Existence: that he can no more continue One Day without Gods [Page 63] sustenance, then the Adiectiue can stand without the Substantiue; with such an Adiunct, as iointly intima­teth vnto vs the Knowledge, Wisdome, Power▪ & Goodnes of God. Who▪ (knowing whereof we be made, and having a perfect Insight into our Psal. 139. 14, 15, 16. substance yet being vnperfect, and our Bones and Members being not hid from him, by whom Day by Day they were Fashioned, when as yet there was none of them) is Able and Vouchsafeth Day by Day to giue vs Our Bread, so Agreeable and Conducing to Our Nature, & to the Susteining of Our Substance. Last­ly, Bread] with such an Addition vnto Gods glory and our good, as that it containeth All that God giveth vn­to vs, making for the one, or for the other, and far be­yond all that we cā desire or deserue. Among the rest, that Bread from Heaven (Ioh. 6.) Bread Supernaturall, Light-Bread, & Bread of Life: of life too Supernaturall & Everlasting. That Bread that comprehendeth all the rest, that we can and can not comprehend. Which our Heavenly Father giving vs, and having giuen for vs all; how shall he not with him also freely giue vs All things?

Then God giuing vs such Bread, and that Continual­ly: and we Dayly praying vnto God to giue it to the poore as well as to our selues: shall we, vnthankfully crossing the fulfilling of our owne desires, be sparefull and Nig­gardish of our Bread, in communicating it vnto our Brethren? Our Brethren? yea, or (if that be not enough) in lending it backe againe vnto our Father? Who if he giue vs All things spirituall and Temporall, is he not worthy of the lone of Some Temporall? He that giveth to vs all Bread, and light, and life to eate it in, and hath [Page 64] promised to giue vs Bread, and light, and life Eternall?

And now it may bee we will brag of giuing Bread vnto the poore, and that perhaps Every Day. But then, Beloved, let vs remember the Addition that is annex­ed to Our Bread that God doth giue vs, as it were pre­scribing a Conditiō of liberality to our giuing. With­out which, it is not our Bread, that is, such as is in our Dayly prayer, which wee giue. It is our Cour­ [...]est sorte of Bread, when as Ours is the finest; The Poorest, when as, Ours is the richest, and when as the poorest haue most neede of the richest; t'is Bread with Tearmes of Diminution, yea and sometimes of reproch and derogation, when as Ours is with most liberall Ad­dition, with Supererogation, & without Casting any mā in the Teeth. This Learne, if not by One Dayes Adding abundantly to another, yet by Our Dayly Breads Additiō.

The Poore shall never cease Mat. 26. 11. Deut. 15. 11.; their Righteousnes, that relieue them, shall never cease: and therefore our Libe­ralitie towards them should never cease, so long as a­ny Day or Night lasteth. One Day vnto another Telleth] both the one, and the other. Yea & as tho [...]gh it were an especiall part of the Dayes Office so to doe, so each Day in and by his light doth still more and more pre­sent and tender to the view of our tender Compassion, the lamentable spectacles of our Poore Afflicted Bre­thren, that they may be succoured by vs, as wee are, or would be relieued by the Day, or any thing hee bring­eth vs: and that To Day: that Hee the present Day may be graced, by GODS being glorified, by our works of Cha­ritie, and Plentifull Sowing to the Spirit, In His little [Page 65] Day-Time. That so we may walke henceforth as Chil­dren of the Day and of the Light, following that which they as our Fathers Tell Vs, and consulting Tell one an­other, for our Good. That in any case we be no longer like vnto those Proci, or Wooers, in Homer [...]; of whom even the very swine-heard Eumaeus, that base peasant, could see to Tell and Complaine vnto Vlysses, That they wastfully and Immoderatly Spent all things both by Day and Night, and yet did not any Day or Night of­fer of their Spendings any Sacrifice vnto GOD,

[...], for also many Daies and Nights which come from GOD. Let vs take heed, Be­loued, least in like sort Despising the Glory of GOD, who is our Glory, (as t'is in the Psalme) We wander in vanitie, & follow after Lyes. Take we heed of Consuming on our l [...]sts, of making provision for the Flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof, of any longer wooing of the world, Flattering of the Flesh, Making Suit to Hell, and Courting of the Diuel. Such Wooing will proue to bee our Woeing, not by ta­king away of any O, but by adding a thousand Woes vn to vs all. Such Sowing to the Flesh and Sow-wallowing in the Mire, will proue to be our Reaping of Corruption, & vnrecoverable pollution. Such Suit, wil proue The Deeps Swallowing of vs vp; Such Courting, our Carting vnto Hell. In a word, Such Glory will be to our shame: Such Minding Earthly Things, will bring Damnation in the End; & the rather, because wee so little regard Every Dayes Continuall Suite vnto vs, and Telling one another, if not to the contrary, yet that it should be to the Cō ­trary. One Day Telleth another.

[Page 66] S. Chrysostome (with whom Theodoret agreeth also) vnderstandeth these wordes mainely and especially of the [...] of the Dayes, and Nights, & Houres of them both. The Greek words are more em­phatical, then that so many English may ma [...]ch them. For if I say, Order: it is too little; if Comelinesse, or Come­ly Order: if Goodly Moderation, or Right Temperature: all is too little. For iudge yee what the rest may be, when as the least of them all, [...], is (according vnto Plato De Legib. 2.) more then [...], which is too much for any English word to answere.

This their [...], and [...], as it may be ga­thered out of that which out of S. Chrysostome and o­therwise hath already beene alleaged: so it is farther Quàm mini­mo sonitu. Cic. expressed by S. Chrysostome, when he saith: [...], &c. who is so vnbles­sed and retchlesse, which seeing so great and so exact an Eu­crasie in the Houres, and such a stable and stedfast order of the Day and of the Night, &c. And a little before: [...] Id quod [...]edi­um est, tum primum sit, tum postremum▪ postre­ma ver [...] & pri­ma media [...]iunt Cic in Tim [...]. [...]. What should one speake of the goodly Eutaxie of the Houres, how like maidens dancing in a round very handsomely & curiously they succeed one another, and by little and little, and without any stirre in the world, the inmost convey thē ­selues vttermost, the formost hindermost and middlemost, doe all shift places one with another, and yet for all this doe never stand still, but doe still stand in their iust distan­ces, [Page 67] Et positae spatijs aequalibus horae Ovid. Met. l. 2. fab. 1.. Here that may be assumed, Rom. 10. 15.How beautifull are the feet of thē which bring glad tidings? &c. How beautifull, [...], how how­er-like? And then are they faire and beautifull indeed. The same in effect hath Theodoret vpon my Text in these words (according to the Latin Translation) Cùm nox at (que) dies ad hominum vtilitatem crescant, at (que) decre­scant, cum (que) à se invicem tempus mutuentur & rursus debitum sibi vltrò [...]itrò (que) reddant, providentiam, quae ipsis inest, ostendunt. The Day and Night, so, as wee see, grow­ing longer and shorter, increasing and decreasing; borrow­ing time one of another, and againe duly repaying one ano­ther what they borrowed, and all this too for mans behoofe, doe thereby shew the providence of God which is in them Et sa [...]e diem & noctem ve [...]n tisorores quas­dam videre est, que temporis spatia ad bomi­num vsus invi­cem mutuant [...] fimul & bene­volè reddūt▪ &c. Theodoret. de provident. Ser. [...]. This [...], this indissoluble order, This vncea­sable interchangeable vnchangeable succession of the Day, and of the Night, GOD hath sufficiently decla­red vnto vs, Gen. 8. 22. saying: Hereafter seed time & har­vest, and cold and heat, and Summer and Winter, and Day and Night shall not cease, so long as the Earth remaineth. And by his Prophet Ieremy, c. 33. v. 20. calling it there, his Covenant of the Day and of the Night, that cannot be broken. If you can breake my covenant of the Day, and my covenant of the Night, that there should not bee Day, and Night in their season: Then may my covenant bee broken with David my servant &c. And in the 25 ^th verse, If my covenant be not with Day and Night, and if I haue not appointed the Order of heaven and earth, &c. And P [...]. 8 [...]. v. 29, 30. My covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever: and his throne as [Page 68] the Dayes of heaven. As the Dayes of heaven. And. v. 35. His seat is like as the Sunne before me. And. v. 6. Hee shall stand fast for evermore as the Moone, and as the faithfull witnesse in heaven. The faithfull witnesse. This faithfull witnesse, witnesseth vnto vs our vnfaithfull witnes­sing of GODS Glory: This never broken covenant of the Day and of the Night, teacheth vs to keepe the co­venants of the Lord inviolable. One Day Telleth ano­ther.

Lastly, if the Dayes [...], & [...] seeme not faire and beautifull enough of Ordinem se­culorum tanquā pulcherrimum carmen, etiam ex quibusdam quasi antithetis bouestaui [...] (D.ꝰ) & postea [...] Si­ [...]u [...] ergo [...]sta cō ­traria contrariis opposita sermonts pulchritudinem reddun [...]: it a qua dam non verbo rum, sed rerum eloquentia con­trariorum oppo­sitione seculi pulchritude compo nitur. Augustia de civit. Dei. lib 11. cap 18themselues looke we then on the Nights vicinity and vicissitude. For as by the neere adioining Darker Lights, or Windowes, which are in the Body of the Church, the great Chan­cell-window-Light is more conspicuous: as the Light & Learning of the Priest, matched with the Ignorance of the people, is in shew more eminent: and as the Raven approaching neere with his blacke opposition, ma­keth the plumage of the Caystrian Swanne to looke more white: So

Le iour suiuist la nuict, la nuict suiuist le iour; as that Divine Sallust. in the first Day of the first weeke, verse 497, 498. Tenebrarum lu­cis (que) varietas, ip­sam lucem nobis iucundiorem magis (que) gratam reddit. Theedo­ret de provident Serm. 1. French Poët hath sweetly vttered. God, the great Architect of the World; hath appointed the Day and the Night still to follow in their turnes one immediatly af­ter the other: to adde so much the greater grace and lustre to the cleere brightnesse of the Day, by being so neerely fol­lowed by the darke shadow of the Night. So, Beloved, if we looke vpon the foule inconveniences of [...] & [...]: (confuse disorder: and vnruly vntemperatnes) [Page 69] we shall finde the Dayes [...], & [...] to be more faire and necessary markes of our imitation; es­pecially if S. Paule stand by, and giue aime with, [...]. Let all things be done honestly, 1. Cor. 14 40with comelynesse, with decency, and in order. [...],] tā haec quàm alia, saith S. Ambrose: as well those things there ex­pressed, as others things whatsoever. And, & reliqua, quae apud cosdem nulla vel ratione vel ordine geruntur, casti­gat, saith Athanasius (according to the Latin Transla­tion) Th' Apostle there blameth not only the things there mentioned, but any thing whatsoeuer should be done by thē against either reason or good order. Then we must take heed how we walke [...], inordinately, as the same Apostle speaketh, 2. Thes. 3. 6. & that by the example of the Day, which in so Cant. 4. 2. like a flocke in good or­der.good order telleth another. One Day telleth another.

Now to end in the same manner that I begun, with the Manner of the Dayes telling one another, & with their Harmony together: I beseech you let it not bee verified of the Day in respect of vs, which Clemens [...]. in initio. The Gre [...]kin alluding to the name of Eunomus, [...]ore eleging then the [...].A­lexandrinus hath of the grashoppers in respect of Eu­nomus, [...]. They sang vnto the All wise God a better song and made him better melody by Or, a [...]e [...] accorded long.wrought, then did Euno­mus withall his skill and modulation. So let not the Dayes Harmony being but in such a Manner, being but by wrought, exceede ours, who learne by the Book too; the word of God: yea and who haue the Law of God to teach vs too, The vndefiled Law of God, converting the soule: The Testimony (yea & the Testament) of the Lord, [Page 70] which is sure, & giueth wisdome vnto the simple: The Sta­tutes of the Lord, which are right, and reioice the hart: The Commandement of the Lord which is pure, and giueth light vnto the eies: The Iudgements of the Lord, which are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they then gold, yea then much fine gold: sweeter also then hony & the hony combe. Moreover [ [...]] etiam, over & aboue (that he is taught by the Booke of Nature, or, the Booke of the World) by them is thy servant taught: & in keeping of them there is great Reward.

Teach vs them, and teach vs by them, and by the o­ther, O Lord God, which teachest man knowledge; Teach vs, O Lord, how to keepe them: keepe thou that great Reward for vs, which by They keeping of them thou hast purchased for vs, O Lord, our Strength, & our Redeemer.

Part. 3▪ AT the first handling of these words (Right Worshipfull and all alike welbeloved in Christ Ie­sus) I proposed to your godly considerations 3. generall parts. The first was, the Meaning of the words: The second, the Mā ­ner of the Dayes speech: The third, the Matter, or, the Subiect of their speech. About the two first were spent the two first Sermons. Now remaineth, that, by GODS gracious assistance and your great good patience, the rest be taken vp by the Mat­ter, or the Subiect of their speech.

The Subiect then, if we take it more properly, is that which we falsely call the Subiect of Logick, even Res Omnes, All Things. Which Logitians, like Sophisters, mainetaine to bee the End of Logique. For then Res [Page 72] Omnes, All Things, beareth with them no other mea­ning then Res Aliquae, Some Things. For so they ex­pound their Res Omnes, to be Rerum omnium conceptus qui primi conceptus, siue primae notiones appellari solent. And hee should be a mad fellow, that should take the conceipts or names of things to be All things, and so impiously collect, that more liuing things haue beene of mans making then of GODS: because in the second of Genesis man gaue the other living things their names, although GOD gaue them their formes, whence they had both to be, and to be named. And so it will proue in the end, that Res Omnes, All things, are not Logicks Subiect, no not any Thing at all is the Subiect thereof: vnlesse Logicke will bee content to take things in conceipt, or Names insteed of things: as wont it is to be fed with Demonstrations, when as some other carieth away the Effects.

They must then leaue Res Omnes, All things, to be the Subiect of One Dayes speech vnto another, the Sub­iect of his Glory, who made All things out of Nothing, and by working on so barren a Subiect, gaue each Day as plentiful a Subiect to declare on, as all Things are.

And yet if we take the Subiect more improperly, for the End; t'is but one thing, that is here the Subiect: even The Glory of GOD, that endlesse Ende wherefore all things are, and doe continue. This therefore is no Adequate Subiect; with which neither All things, nor All Reports can match in Exequation, much lesse can make any true Exaggeratiō thereof, but only by a true [Page 73] Antiphrasis. This Subiect also (if we goe no farther thē The Booke of the World, or, The Dayes Grammar,) is the Only Part, or Parts of Speech, that the Day hath. As it were to teach vs, That all the parts of our Speech should bee so declined and vndeclined, in respect of Good and Evill, That they should at no time swerue, or Decline from Gods Glory. This the Grammar of the Scripture Telleth vs too; That whatsoever we doe wee should doe all to the Glory of GOD: And, That Our Speech should be so seasoned, as that it may Mi­nister Grace vnto the Hearers.

And here first I admonish all, who vndertake any Matter or Subiect to speake, or to write of, especially the Poets and Criticks of these dayes, to learne here of the Dayes, what Matter to treat & to write of. Espe­cially, wheras they are not ignorāt, that God hath crea­ted every man for his Glory, Isa. 43. 7. And therefore not to imploy his wit, or weare out his time otherwise. What a shame then is it for Christiā Poets to choose vnto themselues no better Subiects then they doe, the most of them? in so much that t'is a shame even to name those things whereof they write. A great scan­dall, Beloued, to Christianitie, and a fowle eie-sore to those that are without. Happily (to make the best of it)

But as for GOD and their Creatour, hee is as farre off from their Matter, as they are farre off from him: who notwithstanding, as Theognis saith, is to bee propo­sed to vs in our poetrie,

[Page 74] Theogn. v. 3 [...], &c. [...], First and Last, and betweene both. And here I cannot but commend vnto you, and to your imitation Saluste Du Bar­tus, a Poet aboue the ordinary levell of the world, for the choice of his subiect most rare and excellent, and such as is the Dayes Subiect here in my Text. Or else shall I rather commend vnto you our Prophet David here, who throughout this whole Booke of Psalmes maketh the praise and glory of GOD to be stil the sugar-burden of his song: the inscription of the whole booke being, The [...] Deciphering of Gods Praises.

But where shall I find a Criticke, whom I may cō ­mend vnto you for the like? so like are they all vnto those, of whom t'is said in the Psalm, 78. 33. Their daies did he consume in vanity. They wast their wits, & spend out their whole life time, many of thē, in vaine toyes and trifles. A worthy Subiect surely to treate of, whe­ther it ought to be Vergil or Virgil; Carthagin [...]enses, or Carthaginenses; Preimus, or Primus; Intellego, or Intelli­go: And in that verse of Invenall Satyr. 11.,

Qui Laccdaemonium pitysmate lubricat orbem: whether it be to be read pitysmate, or pygismate, or pitylisma­te, or pedemate, or poppismate, or pyreismate, or pitere­mate. And a thousand such like phluaries▪ foolish & vn­learned questions, which engender strife, envie, raylings, backbitings, evill surmisings, vaine disputations, and which are vnprofitable and vaine, as S. Paul 1. Tim 6. 4. 5 2. Tim 23. Ti [...]. 3. 9.speaketh: nothing concerning any man, much lesse a Christian mans life, & as ill befi [...]ting his Discourse. Vnlesse they thinke that GOD hath placed them here in this world [Page 75] for an end so vaine and frivolous; and not rather, with the Prophet David, As long as they liue to praise the Lord, & as long as they haue any being to sing prayses vn­to Ps. 146. 1. our God: yea and alwaies to bee talking of his worship, his Glory, his Praise, and wonderous Workes, Psalm. 145. 5. This Glory of GOD to bee the Subiect of One Dayes Speech vnto another, This Praise of his to be the price they all intend and contend for in all their conference, was every where pointed at in my former Sermons.

One Day telleth another. That which One Generation is said to tell another, yea and which all the workes of GOD are said to shew and to talke of in the 145. Psal. Where, v. 4. One Generation shall praise thy workes vnto another, and declare thy power. And v. 10, 11, 12. All thy workes prayse Thee, O Lord &c. They shew the Glory of thy Kingdome, and talke of thy power. And looke what the Heavens are here said to declare in the first verse of this Psalme, The Heavens declare the Glory of God: and Psal. 97. 6. The Heavens haue declared his Righteousnes: & what the Firmament is here said to shew, (v. 1.) The Firmament sheweth his Handy Worke: Of that also is it here to be vnderstood, that One Day Telleth another.

So that, what for the infinitenesse of GODS Glory (for, who can expresse the noble acts of the Lord, or shew forth all his praise? Ps. 106. 2. And The Lord is great and cā not worthily be praysed. Ps. 96. 4. And, The glorious Name of God excelleth aboue all thanksgiuing and praise. Nehe. 9. 5.) And what for the manifold Workes of God (O Lord how manifold are thy Works? Ps. 104. 24. evē as manifold as All Things are;) I find my selfe in a narrow streight, [Page 76] whilst I haue vndertaken vnto you more then I can performe. Toīs [...]. as Dionys. speaketh, de Divi. nom c. 2 p. Graec. 267. in fine.For so it is, that in lesse thē an houre, I must tell you (if I should tell you all) what every Day telleth vnto every Day, every Houre vnto every Houre, yea every [...], every Moment of time, vnto every Mo­ment. According to that which hath beene deliuered in the explicated Meaning of the words of my Text. And that were more, then to tell you the many & di­verse cōbinations Vid. Clav sup. Ioan. de Sacr. Bosc cap. 1 pag. 34, 35, & 36. Edition, 4.of each letter of all the Alphabets in the world, with each other letter: although wee should take the same letter as often in the same word, as it is possible. For more infinite are the Things thē ­selues, the Creatura lite­rarum inflar per ordinem, & congruentia sua dominum opifi­cem (que) suum sig­nificante & cla­mante. Athanas. co [...]tr. Gentil. fol 216.letters of the Alphabet of GODS Glory, (a­mong which All Dayes and Nights too, like so many Dividuntur Arabum Literae in Solares & Lunares. Sunne and Dividuntur Arabum Literae in Solares & Lunares. Moone-Letters, must haue place) thē are all the Letters of all the Words of all the Languages in the world. There is neither speech nor lāguage where their voice is not heard. Nay there is not any letter of any language in the world, but maketh one of the wordes of Gods Glory, and many words may be made of it to that purpose. And well wee may recount vnto you some one word, or some of the words, which One Day telleth another: but all the words we cannot, because we know not all the letters of this Alphabet. So that, when I labour to tell you every thing that One Day telleth another, it fareth with me, as sometimes it did, when I thought to haue numbred a great flocke of fould, residing vpon a great River: whilest I began to tell a great troope that were risen, there rose vp still more and more, even in the telling of them mingling [Page 77] themselues so thicke together, and flying so fast one after another; that, what with their fast flying, some one way, some another, every way a great cry, my memory and sight were so distracted, that my whole designe was broken of. For so, so many are the Dayes, so fast following one vpon the other, so diversly shewing forth Gods Glory, so full fraught with the messages thereof, so abounding still more and more with mat­ter of Gods Glory, even Dum loquimur, whilest we speake vnto you, and whilest they speake one vnto another: that it will be more then we shall be able to do in so short a time, to point at some two or three of those excellent Reports, whose wel appointed infinitenesse hath disappointed my farther, yea & well neere Qui enim piè infinita perse­quitur, & si non contingat ali­quando, tamen p [...]oficiet prode­undo Hilar. de T [...]init. lib. 2.infi­nite intendment.

First therefore of the Glory of God in Generall, and then of some excellent Particulars therof: both being the matter of the Dayes Report, and the Subiect one way or other of their Speech.

The Glory of God, is that most absolute paragon of perfection, whereby he is truely [...], (as Damascen speaketh) superperfect, aboue, and before all perfection; That Divine Excellency whereby he is su­perexcellent, eminent, aboue al things, yea aboue Ex­cellencie it selfe, or any name that is named, not in this World only, but also in that that is to come. Eph. 1. 21. That infinite Sea of Essence, as S. Adv. Eunem. lib. 1. Basill and De Orth. [...]id. lib. 1 cap. 1 [...]. Damascen call it. Which also Damascen Adv. Imag. Oppug. Orat 1. p. 5.elswhere tearmeth [...], a Being beyond all Being, & a more then Divine Divinity. Againe, t'is cleped by Ibid. Orat. 3. pag 148.him [Page 78] [...], a Power aboue all power, as also speaketh the Ephes. 1. 21.Apostle, [...], farre aboue all power and Might. In a word, His Omni­potent, Infinite, and Eternall Being.

And this is proved by the enterchangeable putting of God himselfe, and of his Glory, for the same. As, Psal. 108. 5. Set vp thy Selfe, (or, be Thou exalted) O God, aboue the Heavens, and thy Glory aboue all the Earth. But most evidently by the answere God gaue to Moses, Exod. 33. Where when Moses desired to see Gods Glory: no, saith God, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no mā see Me and liue. Where we are advertised, that, as to see Gods Glory is to see God himselfe, so his Glory can be no moreknowne, then can himselfe in his owne na­ture. This Damascen. advers. imag. op­pug orat. 3 [...], this naturall Glory of God, as others Among whō Athanasius, in the place next hereafter ci­ted out of him and Theophi­lus Antioch. who (lib. 1. ad Autolyc. c. 1.) saith of God, [...] &c. where [...] may as well signifie Inse­parable, as Incomprehē ­sible.of the Fathers and the Schoolemen, so also Damascen well saw; and saw also, that the Natu­rality thereof maketh a maine difference betwixt the Glory of God, and of other things, of the Creatour & the creature, where he Damasc. vbi supra.saith: Móyos, [...]. He only is truely Glorious, as not having his Glory frō any other, (as with vs, they say, Honor est in honorante; & Epictetus, in the first chapter of his Enchiridion, recko­neth Glory to be [...] in respect of vs) but Himselfe being the cause and fountaine of all Glory and Goodnesse.

This maketh the difference betwixt Gods Glory & others to be as great, as is betwixt an everlasting foū ­taine and one drop issuing thereout: yea and as is be­twixt the nature of God himselfe, and the natures of o­ther things.

[Page 79] Now then the Glory of God being in it selfe such, as cannot perfectly either be described or descryed by any man living, & such as none but the three persons of holy As D [...]mas [...]. (cap. 1. lib 1. orth. [...]d.) Ba­sil. (advers. Eun [...]. lib 1) Dionys. Areo­pagi [...] &c doe maintaine.Trinity know what it is: (He dwelling in the Light that none can attaine vnto. 1. Tim. 6. 16. And it being in it selfe so true which Zophar speaketh, Iob. 11. 7. Canst thou by searching finde out God? Canst thou finde out th' Almighty: to his perfectiō? And that too of Elihu, Iob. 37. 23. The Almighty: we cannot finde him out.) We may not think that the Glory of GOD is Totally, or In­tegrally declared by the Heavens and the Firmament, or that One Day telleth All This Glory vnto another. For that were rather to deifie the Dayes, the Heavens, & the Firmament, Then the Deity to be by them decla­red to be glorious.

Therefore as Moses was permitted to see but parts, and that the backe parts too, of Gods Glory: so there is no creature, no not all the creatures in the world, that can declare more then part or parts of Gods Glory.

This here the Prophet David intimateth vnto vs. Who, when he had said, (vers. 1.) The Heauens declare the Glory of God, for as much as he meant not the whole complete Glory of God, and for farther expli­cation, hee afterwards insisteth on some particulars therof, saying: The Firmament sheweth his Handy worke. One Day telleth a word vnto another; And, One Night Knowledge vnto another, &c.

So the holy Spirit of God abundantly in the Scrip­tures speaking of Gods Glory, for our better apprehē ­sion thereof, and to apply himselfe to our capacities, [Page 80] vseth to descend frō the Glory of God in Generall, or the naming thereof, to the setting forth & describing of it by some Particulars; such as are accoūted among men (through the shallow reach of our vnderstan­ding and iudgement) equivalent Synonymaes with Glory.

So the Glory of God is in the Scriptures explicated and varied by the names of Maiesty, Kingdome, Excel­lencie, a Glorious Name, Righteousnesse, Mercy, Truth, Greatnesse, Power, Praise, Beauty, Light, & such like. Yea and sometimes too, by Gay Apparell, and Excellent At­tire. For in such things also are mē wont to place Glo­ry. Hence saith the Scripture, Psal. 104 2.He hath put on Glorious Apparell. And, V. 1.He is become exceeding Glorious, hee is cloathed with Maiesty and Glory. And Iob. 40. 5.He decked him­selfe with Maiesty and Excellencie, and arayeth himselfe with Beauty and Glory. And, Psal. 66. 2.Sing forth the Glory of his Name: make his Praise Glorious. And, Psal. 145 5.I will meditate of the Beauty of thy Glorious Maiesty. And, 1. Cor. 16. 27Praise and Glory are before him: Power and Beauty are in his place. And, as before yee heard, They shew the Glory of thy Psal. 145. 11.Kingdome, and talke of thy Power. And, as before also was alleaged, Psal. 97, 6The heavens haue declared his Righteous­nesse. And, Deut 5. 24.Behold the Lord our God hath shewed vs his Glory & his Greatnesse. And, Psal. 57, 11.The Greatnesse of thy Mer­cy reacheth vnto the heavens, and thy Truth vnto the Clowds.

So is it still but by some excellent Particulars of Gods Glory, that he giveth vs some taste of that whole, whose Halfe is more then the whole worldes Glory: [Page 81] yea, whose least title is more, then all the highest Ti­tles in the world can stile sufficiently. Were it possible for vs at once to comprehend, what ever thereof ever any Day or Night hath vttered: yet still might we say vnto GOD, like to that that the Queene of Saba said vn­to Solomon. 1. King. 10. The one halfe was not told vs. For thou hast more Glory, more Wisdome, and Prosperitie, then we haue heard by Report. Yea, and yet so as hath beene said, to wit partly & particularly, is the Glory of GOD as many waies signified vnto Man, as any thing or creature is by the bountifulnesse of GOD any waies dignified. Tanta haec formarum varietas, at (que) numerosi­tas specierum in rebus conditis, quid nisi quidam sunt ra­dij Deitatis, monstrantes quidem quia verè sit à quo sunt, non tamē Quid sit prorsus diffinientes? Ita (que) de ipso vides, sed non ipsum; saith S. Bernard, in his 31 Sermon vpon the Canticles. This so great varietie of Formes, and such a number of Species, or, speciall kindes of things created, what else are they but certaine rayes of the Deitie, shewing that he truely is, & that truely it is he from whom they are, yet not defining altogether What he is? so that of him we see much, yet he himselfe is not seene of vs. For the Glory of GOD, being of the same nature with Goodnes it selfe, hath so diffused it selfe, as that it hath made all things not onely glittering, but Glorious. Hence hee hath made euery thing beautifull in his time, Ecclesiast. 3. 11. yea and according to the Riches of his Glory, as the A­postle speaketh Ephes. 3. 16.,There is not any thing, but hath some Glory or other: even Hooker, l. 5. sect▪ 42. Glory that God hath cō ­ferred on his Creatures. See more thereof after­wards. That, wherein his highest perfectiō doth consist. So 1. Cor. 15. There is a Glory of the [Page 82] Sunne, a Glory of the Moone, and a Glory of the Starres; So there is a Glory not only of the heavenly, but even of the earthly Bodies. According to the severall and different degrees of the divine similitude and perfection, which GOD vouchsafeth to cōmunicate to all his creatures.

For although the Glory of GOD be in it selfe such as hath been said, or rather such as cannot be said what it is: yet so exceeding boūtifullly hath God dealt with vs, as that [...] Damascen. v­bi. infra. Non invidit nobis invisi­bilem naturam suam D [...]us, ne quis id possit ob­tendere, aut se ab hominibus omnino demisit incognitum Ve­rùm, vt predixi, creaturam ita disposuit, vt etsi ipse in sua natu­ra videri non possit, ex operi­bus tamen possit agnos [...]i. Athan. advers. Gentil. fol. 216., Hee hath not left vs altogether ignorant of his glory: But that by the Glory that we see caused by him in all things else, as it were by his backe parts, or, footsteps, we may so far iudge of his invisible and inestimable great Glory, as is fit and expedient for vs to be informed therein, and as is agreeable to our capacities. [...], saith Damascen. GOD hath manifested vn­to De orthod. fid. lib. 1. cap. 1. vs the knowledge of himselfe, as farre forth as we were able to comprehend him. And, Ib. paulò post. [...]. That which was expedient and profitable for vs to knowe, hee hath re­vealed; but hath concealed that, which we were not able to endure. So whilst wee cannot looke directly into the bright body of the Sun, for the dazeling lustre there­of: yet illustratos claritate illius montes videamus, as S. Gregory Homil. 30, de divers. lect. E­vangel.speaketh, and S. Super Cantic. serm. 31. where he saith. Ne (que) hoc luminare magnum (folem l [...]quor istum quē quotidie vides) vidisti tamen a­liquando sicut est. sed tantum sicut illuminat, verbi causa aere mentem, parietē &c. Bernard hath the like: We may with ease see how the Sunne shineth vpon the hils. whilst we cannot see GODS glory and liue, such is the insuperable and insufferable force thereof yet may we behold things inferiour vnto him (& so are all things) be beamed with the brightnesse of his glory.

[Page 83] Not but that hee could haue made Them too, too hard for vs to looke vpon: (a tast whereof wee haue in the shining face of Moses, as also in the surface of the brightest bodies) But in his goodnesse hee would not; That so hee might the more communicate his good­nesse vnto man, by imparting so much the more, and more ready knowledge of the innumerable parts of that glory, which surpasseth knowledge.

Hence hath our good GOD provided vs of that Booke I told you of in the beginning, then tearmed The Booke of the World: but now is it become The Booke of GODS glory too. A Booke of golden Hos. 12 10. It is reckoned amongst the benefits, and louing kind­nesses of God towardes his people, that in speaking vnto thē he v­sed Similitudes.Similitudes of GODS glory, yea and a Book gloriously garnished with the Images therof. According as every thing approa­cheth more or lesse to the highest perfection; Some bearing the very Image thereof: but every thing some way or other resembling it, and bearing likenesse, if not liking therevnto. [...], saith Damas­cen De Orth. fid. lib. 1. cap. 19. And Bonum Cō ­mune Summum ac verissimum Deus est. Aug. Ep st. 3..

And here we may obserue, that which Moller hath well noted on my Text and the verse aforegoing (A­thanasius also saying, In Fragmēt. Images Be­proued.that David in this Psalme [...], reprehendeth those that worship the creature aboue, or besides ( [...], besides) the Creatour) we may, I say, obserue, how vaine & foolish their superstition is, who must needs forsooth haue I­mages, to put them in mind of GOD (for that is their Achilles for the defense of them) when as GOD hath for the same purpose set before vs, and exhibited to our view and due consideration, the Heavens and the [Page 84] Firmament, the Day and the Night, yea and the whole state of things created; that by the ensignements of them, and by such goodly monuments, we should bee admonished of the Creatours most excellent glory, and most glorious Excellencie.

Where neither is there a Nomāclator wāting vnto vs. The names, the natures, the offices of all things; their hid properties, their proper vertues, their vertuous en­dowments are all discovered vnto vs, by the continu­all Report that One Day vnto another, and every Day vnto vs, maketh of them. Every Day and Night, like so many Bedils, still attēding vs for the same purpose, and to tell vs: Such, and such are the badges, Such and such the traces of his glory: There's his Aeternitie, There's his Power, There's his wisdome, There's his Goodnes, There's his Truth, There's his Iustice, There's his Prouidence, There's his Mercy to be seene. And so alike of all the Glo­rious attributes of GOD; according as Calvin super Rom 1.and Zan­chius Compend. lico primo de Dco. p. 22. & inde.doe well agree, That Speculum creaturarum pa­tefacit singulas Dei virtutes, The Booke, or Mirrour of the world, or of GODS Creatures, discloseth vnto vs all the pro­per Attributes of GODS Glory.

So that what ever of these it be that they shall pre­tend to be put in minde of by their Images: they are more, and better put in minde of thē by all the works & creatures of God. Yea [...], (Rom. 1.) That which may be knowne, or, That which is lawfull and expe­dient [...]. lib. de Mundo. to be knowne concerning God, is manifest in them. For the invisible things of him are seene by the Creation of the World, they being considered, or, vnderstood by his [Page 85] Workes. By his workes. And so by Similitudes & Ima­ges of Gods owne making, Gods own warranting, Gods owne appointing for that purpose: for which they would haue pictures and Images of mans making to serue, yea and of mans maintaining too, against the expresse prohibition of God himselfe.

Vnlesse they will fly to that miserable shift & base tricke of begging the question in Logique, to haue the felling downe of the Second Commandement hand­smooth to be granted them: A thing as much as any thing else to be stood on by vs, till such time as they shall haue proved their Church to be of that nature of freehold. For otherwise, they fall vpon the dint of that Commandement so much the more by their Ima­ges, because they say they haue them to put them in minde of God. For the having of other things enough besides, to doe that; is a reason, why we should not make Images for that purpose. For to transgresse Gods Commandement lightly and needlesly, is not a lighter sinne, then to doe it vpon some kinde of Necessi­tie.

And that we haue other things enough besides to put vs in minde of God, this 19. Psalme is sufficient to proue vnto vs. In the last verse whereof, wee haue The Redemption of the world, chiefly to remember vs of God, & of his Glory. In the verses going before that, vnto the sixt verse, we haue the Statutes and Comman­dements of God, doing the same also: in that they Vers. 7. con­vert the soule, Vers. 7. giue wisedome vnto the simple, Vers. 8. reioice the heart, Vers. 8. giue light vnto the eies; and by them is Gods [Page 86] servant taught. And that Commandement it selfe, which forbiddeth Images, as also foure other of the first, to­gether with the Preface, make such often mention of God, and of the Lord, as if God had thereby purposely an­ticipated that Reason of the Papists, heretofore of the heathen; by telling them, that that so often men­tioning of his name, and those his Commandements so pure, so sure, and so sweet (as here the Prophet David calleth them) must needes put them still in minde of God, if they regarded those his Cōmandements, but so much as to remember them.

Thirdly, we haue all The workes of God whatsoever, Qui [...]quidagit: Which Genebrard too vnderstandeth by the Iudgements of the Lord, in the 9. verse: but must needes be included within that, which is in this second verse, One Day telleth another.

Fourthly and lastly, we haue all those Resemblances of the Creatour, wherewith God, that is 1. Cor. 15. 28 all in all, deig­neth to dignifie all and every of his Creatures.

Which is reason sufficient, why wee should not make any graven Image, or the likenesse of any thing to put vs in minde of God: especially those being vnto vs such bad Remembrancers of God, when they so ill re­semble him: (The Godhead being not like vnto gold, or sil­ver, or stone graven by art and the invention of man, as S. Paul said, in the seaventeenth of the Vers. 29.Acts.) And whereas otherwise we haue even all the Workes & Cre­atures of God, better Remembrācers of God; in as much as they are all better resemblers of his Glory. There be­ing not one of them all, but (as before was begun to [Page 87] be declared) some way or other doth resemble him.

Omnis Creatura reprasentat eū qui est Trinitas, saith Tom. 1. pag. 14. Col. 2.Bonaventure, every Creature resembleth, yea, represēteth God. And, Saptentia suam similitudinem diffundit vs (que) ad vltima rerum, saith Thomas Sum. part. 1. quaest. 9. art. 1.Aquinas. God, who is wisedome it selfe, diffuseth the similitude of himselfe even to the lowest, the least, and last of all things. And, as Zan­chius De Operib. Dei part. 3. li. 3. cap. 1. saith, Nulla quidem res est, quae non aliquam cum Deo similitudinem habeat: quia omnis effectus similitu­dinem aliquam habeat cum sua causa necesse est. Ita fit vt nihil sit in mundo, in quo non aliquod Dei, divinae (que) boni­tatis vestigium impressum conspiciatur. There is no one thing, but is somewhat like vnto God: for that every Effect must needs be somewhat like his Cause. Hence it is, that there is nothing in the world, in which appeareth not some print of Gods beautifull footing, and some impression of his goodnesse. And Hier. Savona­rol. de triumph. Crucis. l. 1. c. 10. another saith, Dei Essentia omnium ali­orum ab ipso similitudinem continet. And, Ibid.Propria vni­uscuius (que) natura consistit, prout aliquo modo diuinae perfe­ctionis est particeps. The Essence of God conteineth the Si­militude of al things els. And, The proper nature of every thing consisteth in some way participating the divine per­fection. And againe, Lib. 2. cap. 4.Nihil est in vllo effectu, quin excel­lentiùs in prima causa inveniatur: There is nothing in a­ny Effect, which is not to be found after a more excellent manner in the first Cause of all, that is, in God [...] who as the Cl [...]ch [...]oveus in comment, in 4. cap. lib. [...]. Damascen. de fid. Ort [...]odox. et The. Aquin. summ. part. 1. Schoolemen well mainetaine, Rerum omnium perfe­ctiones supereminentèr in se complectitur, In a sort more then eminent compriseth the perfections of all sortes of things;

[...], Cropping the top of every ver­tues flower: to apply that of Olymp. Od. 1. Pindarus more rightly vn­to the worlds Creatour, in as much as he is a higher king then Of whom was said that of Pindarus. Hiero.

And herevpon haue the Schoolemen built their two fold Whereof see, Damascen. Orthod. sid. li 1. cap. 4. & com­mentator. ibid. & Dionysium de Myst. Theol. cap 1, 3, 4, & 5. & Car [...]lum Bo­villum, de Ni­bilo, cap. 11. Diuinity, (or, Theology) Affirmatiue & Ne­gatiue. By the former whereof, they attribute the per­fection of every thing vnto God: Againe by the latter, which is the Negatiue, they in some sort thwart and crosse the Affirmatiue, shewing some obliquity there­in; But so as Anaximander Milesius, shewing the ob­liquity of the Zodiack, is therefore said By C. Plini­us lib. 2. cap S. Rerumfores aperuisse. For certainly this Negatiue Divinity (which else is called Divine Ignorance) openeth yet wider vnto vs the knowledge of Gods glory by his works. All whose perfection, though by Divine Assertion it be­longeth vnto God: yet is he by the Negatiue Diuinity none of all their perfections, no not the perfectest of them all. [...], saith Lib. 1. Orth. fid. cap. 4. And Dyonys. (de cael­bierarch. cap. 2) saith: Excedit illa Divina Ma­iestas subst [...]tiam omnem, vitam (que) transcendit: Nulla hanc expri­m [...]t lux, omnis (que) sermo, omnis men [...], [...]t (que) ratio, abs (que) vlla com­paratione, illius simil [...]tudine in­serior est. & cap. primo de div. nom [...] although he affirme, Deum omnia es [...]e quae sunt, rerum (que) omnium zominibus posse nuncu­pari: quòd nibil sit in rerum natura subsistens, quod non habeat a [...] quod summae divinitatis vestigi­um, vnde illius nomen D [...]o possit vitè & piè accommodari: yet he saith also▪ Deum nibil esse eo­rum quae sunt; quòd supra omnia est, & omnia e [...]uperat: proinde nomen omne recusat, quia tran­scendit vnivers [...] quae nominari possant. Damascen. God is not any thing at all: not because he is not at all, but because he is aboue all, even such a Transcendent, whose being is a­boue all being, according to that which formerly hath beene declared. Hence too, the Negatiue Theologie is by them and by the Fathers reckoned the By D [...]mascen (vbi supra) and his Commentators by Dionysius (de caeles. hi [...]r. cap. 2. & in lib. de Myst. Theolog. p. 336) by Carolus Bovillus (de Ni­hilo cap. 11. iuxta fine [...]) and by others: Nazianzen, Cyprian, &c.truest and [Page 89] the surest; Excellent and Superexcellent Negations, taken from things visible and within our reach, most fitly, truely, and illustriously bowing and rebounding to the praise of GODS perfection, and raysing in our Deus per Ab­negationem multisormiter in Scripturis di­scribitur & no­minatur. Barth, de Rerum pro­prictat l. 1. c 5.viewe the sparkles, and the spangles of his Glory; The Glory of the Creatour being declared by his surmoū ­ting his Creatures in the fairest of their Glory, and at the highest pitch of their perfection: they, with their then going downe, lifting vp the ballance of GODS praise for perfect Beautie and Glory.

To instance in the Day. [...], saith Clemens Alexandrinus, by occasion of the words of my Text: The Lord himselfe is many times called Day. And in another place ( [...]) he giueth a reasō why the Word, or, Sonne of God is called Day, saying: [...]. Hee is the Word that giueth light vnto things hidden and in obscuritie, & by whome every creature was brought vnto light and being. and so is he called Day. And t'is a good rule of Dionysius, (de Divin. Nom. cap. 10.) yeelding also another reason hereof: [...]. God is so to be called Time, and Day, and Aeterni­tie, and such like, as is agreeable and befitting vnto God, as not being mutable or moueable with any motion, and in his continuall Of Mouing, or Motion in God: see Da­masc. de Orth. fid. lib. 1. c. 10, 21, & 4. And his Commen­tator. And Th. Aquin. Sum. part. 1. quaest. 9. artic. 1.working abiding alwaies in himselfe the selfe­same [...], est Varennio, se­cum, ipse solus: sed Posselius, [...] (in Vl­pia in 2. Olyn.) vertit, in eodem statu permanere [...] (in Iustin. Martyr. pro Christian. a, polog. 2.) reddi­tur, In statu & conditione sua. vid. Wis. 7. 27., and as being the Cause and Author of Dayes, of Time, and of Aeternitie. For which cause, (saith Diony­sius [Page 90] immediatly before) as also for that he is indeed the Time and Eternitie of all things (in regard of the puri­tie of their perfection) and because of his being before all Dayes, all Time, and all Eternitie: God is in the seavēth of Daniel called the Ancient of Dayes. The Ancient of Dayes] a Vide Iunium. [...] of the Aeternitie of God. And Figura haec si­eri debet out or­nandae rei causa quae pulchra est, out vitande, quae turpis est. therefore the Dayes made choice of to Adorne and set forth the E­ternitie of God.

And herein appeareth greatly the Glory of GOD; The Day it selfe being so full of Beautie and Perfecti­on. Which as heretofore Serm. 2.it hath beene shewed, so hath it alwaies been acknowledged by man. This was not very obscurely intimated by Iob, who (Iob. 42. 14.) called the first of those three faire daughters of his, Ie­mimah, that is, Day Ita vule▪ Edit. ita Lebcus in O­nomastico, in verbo Diem.: it may be too,

— quarum quae longè pulcherrima. Neither was it vnacknowledged by the Heathen; that which was col­lected by them, as otherwise, so also by that goodly or­der, heretofore Serm. 2. Serm. 2.specified, of the Day and Night con­tinually succeeding one the other. Hence, for their Beautie and Comelinesse, haue they also likened thē rather vnto women then to men. As appeareth by the propounding & expounding too of that Riddle in the life of Aesop, where t'is said: [...]. The Day and Night two wo­men, enterchangeably succeeding one another.

And yet for all this, That the Day is so Faire & Beau­tifull in the eies of the whole world: hee that made the whole world must needs be fairer. And that so infinit­ly beyond comparison: as that the Day it selfe is no [Page 91] Day, but Night, in this respect: yea and that GOD him­selfe is no Day, but infinitely aboue all Dayes perfecti­ons, and therefore a more excellent kinde of Day. As also what ever else it bee, that the Day or any other of GODS creatures declareth to be in God, it declareth it to be in him after a more excellent maner.

Psal. 89. 30. His seed also will I make to endure for euer, and his throne as the Dayes of heaven. Where the Dayes resemblance of Eternity, argueth the true Eternity of God; yet so, as that he is not so, but more then so Eter­nall. Non eius aeternitatis est hic M [...]ndus, cuius aeternita­tis est Deus: Mundum quippe fecit Deus, & sic cum ipsa creatura quam Deus fecit, tempora esse coeperunt. Et ideo dicuntur tempora aeterna, non tamen sic sunt aeterna tem­pora quomodo aeterna, est Deus: quia Deus est ante tempo­ra, quia fabricator est temporū, saith S. Austin in his first booke against the Manichees, the second Chapt. And hee seemeth to haue taken it out of Dionysius in the place cited; where Where hee saith: [...]. (where, [...] Coaeter­na, perionius rē ­dreth, eiusdem eternitatis) & a little after, [...], &c. the same in Greeke is to be found. the English of both is this: This world is not of the same Eternity with God. For God made the World, & Time took his beginning with that which God created in the begin­ning. And therefore though time may in some sort be saide to be Eternal: yet is it not so Eternall, as is God: for that God is before all Time, in as much as he is the maker thereof. And vpon the 9. Psalme saith S. Austin, Quid est secu­lum seculi, nisi cuius effigiem tanquam vmbram habet hoc seculum? Vicissitudine enim temporum sibi succedentium, &c: aeternitatis quaedam imitatio est. What is [world with­out end] saith he, but that which this world hath some sha­dow, [Page 92] or resemblance of? For in the continuall vicissitude of times succeeding one the other, there is a certaine Imitati­on of Eternity. And that it is another manner of Eter­nity which is in God, then that which is in the Dayes, the World, or Times of the World; and that this E­ternity is but a counterfeit, and indeed none at all, in respect of that: is manifest by Eternall Duration: in which (as t'is in the Additions on the 89. Psalme) Om­nes Dies sunt And, as Se­neca hath of [...] Aeternus; (epist. 102. iuxta finem) Aequalitèr splē ­det omen Coeli latus, Dies & Nox, aeris infi­mi vices suat.simul, nec sibi invicem succedunt. All Dayes are at once, & doe not one succeed the other; as they they doe with vs here in this world. And therefore no marveile, if with God One Day (as S. Peter 2. Pet. 3. 8. &, vid. Eccl. 18 10. saith) be as a thousand yeeres, and a thousand yeeres as one Day; with whom all Dayes and times are all together and all a­like present. And therefore he only truely hath Eter­nity.

And as it is of the Eternity of the Dayes; so is it of all other the Dayes Resemblances of their makers Glory. Among the rest, the Light of the Day, is no light argument, how that God is infinitly a purer kinde of Light, and as farre surpasseth the Day-Lights abso­lutest perfection: perfection? yea rather imperfectiō, if wee compare it with the superperfectnesse of the Creatour.

This, & this vse of setting forth Gods Glory, by true­ly extenuating the Day and Lights perfection in their highest elevation, is pointed out vnto vs in the 7. of Sap 7. 29. 30 Wisdome: where t'is said of the Wisdome of God: Shee is more beautifull then the sunne, and is aboue all the order of the starres, and the Light (or, the Day, as God called the [Page 93] Light Gen. 1. 5. Day:) is not to be compared vnto her. For Night commeth vpon it, but Wickednesse cannot overcome Wise­dome. The Day-Light, for all his rare perfection, yet must needs endure his darke opposite, the Night, his obscurest adversary, to come over it, yea and for the time to overcome it; But the Light of Gods Wisedome hath no enemy (no not the Eph 6 12. Prince or Luk. 22. 53. Col. 1. 13. power of Dark­nesse) able to overcome it, no nor to come over it. And therefore the brightest Day-Light is indeede no Day nor Light, but Night and Darknesse it selfe, in com­parison of God himselfe; To whom Darknes & Light are both alike (Psal. 139. 11.) Who is the True Ioh. 1 9. Light, the Everlasting Wisd. 7. 26. & Isai. 60, 19, 20. Light, [...], the Light of Ioh. 8. 12. Life, the Light in which is no 1, Ioh. 1. 5. Darknesse, the Light which hath no Entercourse, or Fellowship with 2. Cor. 6. 14. Darkenesse, The Light that caused the Light to shine out of 2 Cor. 4. 6. Darknes, the Light that shineth In the Ioh. 1. 5. Darknes.

Quid tibi videbitur Divina Lux, cùm illam suo loco videris? Seneca, vbi suprà.Thou that so much admirest the Light of this World, what then, thinkest thou, Wilt thou thinke of that Light of God in Heaven, when thou shalt see it There in his Brightest Glory: or, shalt there See God As He Is, as S. Iohn speaketh. (1. Ioh. 3. 2.) In Thy Light shall we see Light, saith he: (Psal. 56. 9.) God send vs that Light of Hea­ven.

Now here to declare the Glory of God, but so as vn­to the World it is declared; we had need summon to­gether All Things with their Perfections. But because the summons would so be longer in sending forth, thē I may be in speaking vnto you at this time: we will [Page 94] now content our selues with those and their perfecti­ons, who are present already; and therefore need not to be warned to make their appearance, but that their appearance be in their owne likenesse; such as their Creatour hath allowed and allotted them, in making them after His owne likenes: And they are, The Dayes here in my Text, with their Perfections; And you, Men, Fathers, & Brethren, who are all the children of the 1. Thess 5. 5. Day, with all your Excellencies.

[...], saith Aristotle, in his 7 ^th booke of Physicks, and the 4. Chapter; The proper ver­tue of a thing is his perfection. And the Vertue of each thing is, to doe that passingly well, for which by the maker thereof it was ordeined and appointed. So the Vertue of all the Workes of God is to serue excellent­ly well to that purpose, to which God hath deseigned them. That they may do (as Elihu Iob 37. 12.speaketh) Whatsoever he commandeth them vpon the whole World.

This is otherwise tearmed their Beauty, their Ratio­nall, or Intellectuall Fairenesse. So saith Simon de Lib. 4. cap. 1.Cassia very excellently: Quam pulchritudinem quaelibet creatu­ra singulatim at (que) coniunctim habere potest in ordine v­niversi, quàm vt id agat quod sibi praeceptum at (que) imposi­tum est, & illum obtineat finem ad quem ordinata est? &c: What other Beauty or Comlinesse, in a so wel ordered World, ether iointly or severally can Gods creatures haue, Then to doe that which is inioyned & commaunded them, & to at­taine and retaine still that end, wherevnto they were or­deined?

So is every Tree at his fairest, whē it bringeth forth [Page 95] such fruit, as the first and Naturating Nature hath na­turally ingraffed in it, according to his kinde. So there is no greater fairenesse of the Eie, then sight▪ of the Eare, then hearing: of the Nose, then smelling: These being the Ends wherevnto nature hath advanced thē. So the Dayes are then at their fairest, when they serue mans turne to worke & labour in. For herevnto hath God ordeined them: according to that, Psal. 104 23, Man goeth forth to his worke, and to his labour vntill the evening: And, Ioh. 11. 9. Are there not twelue houres of the Day? And, Mat. 6. 34. Suf­ficient for the Day is the travaile therof. Instigat (que) animos opera ad maior a calentes, Exacuens varijs mortalia pecto­ra curis; as S. Vbi infra. vid. etiam The: odoret. de Diis & Angel. circa initium. Hilary saith of the Day. Sol aut ori­ens diem promit ad laborem, aut occidens noctem superinducit ad requicm. La­ctant. de Ira Dei. cap. 13.And then too are the Dayes in their perfectiō, when by their Light­somnesse they not only further mens actions, but set forth also all visible perfections; so farre forth, as that God called the Light Gen 15. Day. The Light, which O [...]thod. fid. lib. 2 cap 7. Damascen calleth [...], &c: The Beauty and ornament of all things visible. And yet, God called the Light Day; yea and S. Carm. in Ge­nesim. & looke backe vpō the reason given by Clem. Alex. why Christ is called Day. Hilary saith as much of the Day:

So that it is one of the Dayes as well as of the Lights perfecti­ons, to make the Beauty of other things appeare.

This, and all this, maketh the Nature of the Day to be so hard a thing for vs to define: A thing attempted indeede by many; yet never (for ought I know) attai­ned vnto by any. And no marveile. For if the true dif­ferences of all things be of so hard enquirie, as that [Page 96] that difference, whereof wee thinke our selues most sure, hath suffered some doubt: (good Eaurentius Valla, Francis­cus Vallesius, &c.Philosophers maintaining other creatures besides man to be reaso­nable, and S. Basil defending against Lib. 1. p. 237. Eunomius, the na­ture of the Earth to be vnknowne) what then may we thinke of the true difference of so pure a creature as the Light, or the Day?

And this againe argueth, how much more his own nature and perfection is beyond our reach, who hath made the Day and the Light such, as surmounteth the height of humane wit and vnderstanding.

Nor is it the Light visible onely, which the Day ac­cording to his beautie and perfection vttereth. Dici­tur nam (que) tempus facere id quod fit in tempore; saith Dio­nysius Carthusianus on my Text. The Time or the Day is said to doe that, which is done in Time, or in the Day. Hereof are exāples in Scripture As, proverb. 27. 1. thou knowest not what a Day may bring forth.; & herehence is that Inscription of the Booke of Chronicles, Latined Verba Dierum. And, Cùm Doctorum officio tam probè fungan­tur dies ac noctes, as Calvin saith on my Text: The Days and Nights being vnto vs such good Teachers and In­structers: Therefore t'is the Light of knowledge also which the Day vttereth: knowledge of GOD by all his workes. All his workes, whether of Creation, Conserua­tion, Iudgement, Grace, or whatsoever they be: even as many as he would haue knowne vnto man. For hee worketh great things which we knowe not, Iob. 37. 5. And Psal. 77. 19. his footsteps are not knowne. And, Ecclesiast. 16. 21. The most part of his workes are hid.

And yet how infinite are those workes of GOD, [Page 97] which are made knowne vnto man, & that by meanes of the Dayes revealing and relating the same one vnto another. That which GOD hath also ordained the Dayes for, to be mens instructers and informers, by their comparing the events of one Day, with the ac­cidents of another; according to that Psalm. 89. 12. Teach vs so to number our Dayes, that wee way apply our hearts vnto wisdome. And Psalm. 78. 5. I haue considered the Dayes of old: and the yeares that are past. And Hag. 2. 16, 19. Consider in your minds from this Day, & afore &c. And, Deut. 4. at the 32. verse, Inquire now of the Dayes that are past, which were before thee, since the Day that God created man vpon the earth; and aske from the one ende of heauen vnto the other, if there came to passe such a great thing as this, or whether any such like thing hath beene heard.

These, and all other the Dayes beautifull vertues & perfections (of which there are more in my former discourses to bee seene) how still they are preserued, how at this Day, and from time to time continually, they are retained and maintained by them, is by the Prophet David witnessed, where he saith: Psal. 119. 91. Lamed. 3.They conti­nue this Day according to thine ordinance: for all things serue thee. And, Psal. 104. 19. He appointed the Moone for certaine seasons: and the Sunne knoweth his going downe. Numquid vlla in ipso est Sole praevaricatio? &c. (saith S. Ambrose vpon the 18. Psalme) Sol diem illuminat, tem­pora statuta custodiens &c. manet ipsa immutabilis demu­tatio, & conversio vertere ordinem suum nescit, vna om­nium obedientia, &c. Is there any prevarication in the [Page 98] Sun: it never fayleth to enlighten the Day, keeping his ap­pointed times: and both Sun and Day, and all, are in their enter changeablenesse vnchangeable: They keepe their turnes without turning out of order, and hold on their con­versions, without being inverted or perverted: They all per forme one vniforme obedience. And, S. Chrysostome on the first chap to the Romanes, saith: [...]; Haue yee not seene the goodly orders of the Day, and of the Night, how they abide the same continually? And, Ecclesiastic. 16. 27. They (The Day and the Night) cease not from their offices Et vide Bern. in serm. de S ^t. Andrea, fol. 134 vbi ita ait: Dele▪ igitur quia cre­atorem offendi­sti, cuius legem coelestia & ter­restria praeter te indefessa statio­ne conservant, &c..

Which had it not heretofore In my secōd Sermon,sufficiently been pro­ued, or were it any waies to be doubted of: yet Day­ly Experience (Quae nunc pro Domino, which now speaketh in the Dayes owne case) maketh it a case more then evi­dent. For behold one perfection of the Day insteed of all: even that last before mentioned, of incessantly en­lightning mans heart and vnderstanding, with the knowledge of GOD by all his workes. Which because they are infinite, wee must insist in some particulars; The Earle of Salisbury, in his Answer to certaine scandalous papers, pag. 3. in which God, as in his meanes, is especially seene of vs: to wit, in those great workes of deliuerances, and defences, which he provideth for whole Nations, and people against publike and private practises: as a great Statesman of our times, though Temporall, yet Spiritually hath written.

Pertinent herevnto are all the wondrous works of GOD, which he wrought for and amongst his people of Israell. In respect whereof, not only were those things spoken, His name is Great in Israel, Hee hath done [Page 99] Great Things for vs, He hath not dealt so with any Nati­on, and the like, but vndoubtedly these wordes also of my Text haue by the Prophet David beene deliuered. Nor so onely: but they haue beene penned also by the Toung of that Ready Writer, in regard of All Gods power­full Workes, All his Mercies and Iudgements, shewed to­wards, or among Iewes, or Gentiles, even All People and Nations of the world; whether in their Exaltation, or Depression: according to that which heretofore, in the first Exposition of my Text, hath beene declared. Here whole People and Nations, yea All People and Nations ioyning with the Iewes in that same Infancie related & dilated, Ezech. 16. thereout to make perfect the praise of Gods Glory; who giueth to Every Nation, and to All People, Their Multiplying, Increasing, Waxing Great, Rich Clothing, Excellent Ornaments, The word of Life (v. 6) The Overspreading of his Loue (v. 8. Vid. Cant. 2. 4) To be His, and His Annointed: to Prosper into a Kingdome, To be Renowmed for Beautie: Beautie, made Perfect through His Comelines, which He putteth vpon them, (v. 14.)

See then, Beloved, whether the Dayes beautie and perfection in revealing and relating vnto vs such Beau­ty & Comelinesse of such works of GOD, be e're a whit abated or diminished: nay whether it bee not rather more and more exquisitely polished and refined.

And for this purpose I will resume that, Deut. 4. 32. Inquire now of the Dayes that are past, which before thee, &c. Inquire, Beloued: were there ever greater delive­rances of any Nation and people, then haue beene of ours in these late Dayes? every Day as it were striving [Page 100] with other, ( [...], a happy strife for England) which of them should be the conveyer vnto vs of the gladdest tidings of our greatest deliverance.

By the late Queenes Dayes of famous memory, how diversly were the Dayes diapred with Gods admi­rable Workes, in protecting this our country & peo­ple? Her selfe, (and the whole Realme by her safety) before shee began to reigne, strangly preserved, and shee reserved by God to be our Queene, and to bring the people of this land out of darke ignoraunce & su­perstition into his marveilous 1. Pet. 2 9. light. Afterwards▪ reig­ning, how often and admirably was she, & the whole Realme delivered from the raging of their enimies? No sooner a Rebellion, then easily repressed. No trai­terous designe, but opportunely discovered, ether by the parties own confessiō, or otherwise, after a strāge sort. No conspiracie, by divlish association and wit­chery so strongly compacted, which by the divine prudence and providence was not by and by confron­ted and confounded. No invasion so mightily addres­sed, which by the powerfull goodnes of the Almigh­ty was not soone countermaunded; and the authors thereof mightily distressed, danted, & endangered by weake Witnes the Spaniards great Armāda in the yeere 1588.meanes. No Plague so contagious and gene­ral, which by the mercifulnesse of God hath not quick­ly & wonderfully ceased. No dearth so direfull, which ere long by the mercifull hand of God hath not beene eased. No rumour of warre; which was not still from time to time, and in short time, stilled and appeased.

Last of all, The Day of her death, which aforetime [Page 101] had beene deemed dreadfull to the whole land, was, by the extraordinary worke of Gods wisdome, so con­verted into a ioyfull catastrophe, as that that very Day yeelded vs vnspeakeable matter of magnifying the great Goodnesse, & loving kindnes of our God. Who against that Day had provided vs of a religious, a gra­cious, The 24 Day of March.and a learned king: & one, as not without rov­all issue, to take away that former feare: so not then to learne, or vnaccustomed to sway a scepter. Him, I say, had God provided vs, yea & preserved also aforehand The 5. Day of August.for vs: that, for the farther good and preservation of this kingdome, he with his rightfull title shoulde suc­ceede the last Queene therein: and that so peaceably, as that not so much as one sword should bee drawne, no nor one Word vttered or muttered against him; And as he succeeded thus peacebly, so he should be e­ven a Salomon for peace, making vs at peace withall the world: and at peace too within our selues, by the happy vnion of both these kingdomes; God by meanes of him making Great Brittaine as a Psal. 122. 3. [...]itie, that is at v­nity in it selfe: and making peace within her Walles, and plentiousnesse within her Psal: 122. 7. palaces.

But since the time of his Maiesties reigne, a time as yet of small spaciousnes, (God adde thereto the length of many Dayes and yeeres) how mightily God hath preserved him, and in him this whole Iland, is fresh e­nough in your memories. You cannot yet forget, vn­lesse vee too much forget God, the deliverance frō the treason of Watson, & the rest: The deliverance of vs all from that great Plague, and ceasing it, wherewith in [Page 102] the beginning of his Maiesties reigne God for a short time chastised vs. Or, if ye might forget these so quick­ly; The 5. Day of November, 1605.yet shall not that late most hideous & horrible in­tended Massacre by gunpowder, the 5. Day of Novem­ber last, shall not that, I say, continue for ever in our memories, as if it had beene there Written and engravē with a pen of yron, and with the point of a diamond for Ier. 17. 1. & Iob. 19. 24. e­ver? That so that 5. Day of November may still remē ­ber vs of the Mercy and Iudgement of the Lord in that Massacre. Mercy, in that it was but intēded: Iudgemēt, in that it might, & was neere to haue beene perfourmed. Which what do we say, that it was intēded? In which the match and powder were almost already tended which should haue blowne vp at once, and in one in­stant, the Kings Maiesty, the Queene, Prince, and States of Parliament: where this Iland should haue seene the whole body of her inhabitants cut off at one blow: Lucan. lib. 2. vnius populum pereuntem tempore mortis: yea & where there should haue beene for them all, even in the deli­beration of common affaires, Lucan. lib. 7. Communis—rogus, ossi­bus astra Misturus: One common fiery blast, that should haue blowne vp their bones into the firmament. An at­tempt, beyond that of Salmoneus,

For here the vniversall Estate of three kingdomes, (which so many yeeres together had stood quiet, pleasant & happy; and yet had never before reioyced in a condition so happy, plausible, and well governed, as was that whereon it was at that day with great surety reapposed,) had in a mo­ment of time not beene disturbed only, but vtterly [Page 103] dissipated and consumed. In imitation, (for the Tertull. lib de Baptismo. lib. de coron. milit. & lib. de praescript. adve. haeret, &cDivle doth counterfaitly imitate and emulate the things of God) in imitatiō, I say, of that last Day & end of Time, when in the twinkling of an eie,

Then Deut. 4 32. Inquire now of the Dayes that are past, which were before thee, since the Day that God created man vpon the earth, and aske from the one end of heaven vnto the other, if there came to passe such a great thing as this, or whether any such like thing hath beene heard. And (if I may be so bold to apply that which followeth too) Vers. 33. Did ever people heare the voice of God speaking out of the midst of a fire, as we haue heard, and lived? And that in the 36. verse, Out of heaven he made vs heare his voice to instruct vs, & vpon earth he shewed vs his great fire, and we heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. The fire? yea, Beloved, & such a fire, (that should haue beene) as never the Isra­elites heard of. Their Dayes can tell ours of such a fire as was never heard of before: and ours againe can re­quite theirs with the Report of such a fire of gunne­powder, as heretofore hath not beene heard of. They lived: so (ever praised be God) doe we too; our King, Queene, Prince, States, & State, & all: & are as yet in per­fect estate. God shewed thē his great fire vpō earth; And so in the vaute he shewed vs the wood and gunpowder ready for the fire, which he had well neere kindled in his Deut. 32. 22. wrath. The voice of God spake vnto them out of the midst of the fire. And so it did, and doth vnto vs all, by the Dayes Report, the Report we haue heard of our de­liverance, [Page 104] liverance, the 5. Day of November, out of the midst of so furious a fire. Yea, the voice of GOD speaketh vnto vs, to this whole Land, this whole vnited Iland, as vn­to them in the same Chapter, Vers. 9. & 10 Take heed to thy selfe, & keepe thy soule diligently, that thou forget not the thinges which thine eies haue seene, and that they depart not out of thine heart, all the dayes of thy life: but teach them thy sons and thy sons sonnes. Forget not the Day, the 5. Day of November, wherein thou wert so strangely delivered, and learne therby to feare me all the Dayes that thou shalt liue vpon the earth. Teach thy children, saying, as t'is in Psal. 118. 24.the Psalme, This is the Day which the Lord hath made; or (as others read) This is the Day, in the which Lord hath made: hath made a mighty deliverance for vs his people of this Land: and hath made his Glory knowne to the whole world, by so, so preserving vs that Day.

The like may be said of all the Beauty and Comely ornaments, which God hath bestowed, not on vs on­ly, but vpon all other nations: To whō he giveth god­ly Kings and Queenes for Nurses, and such like, as before out of Ezech. for all which more particularly I referre you to every Dayes Relation. To which also, and to the Bookes that thereof are written, I must for brevitie sake remit you, touching the manifold Discoveries of new Countries and People, to the vnspeakeable Ad­vancement of Gods Glory, and that by One Dayes tel­ling Another. whence the Psalter of the Nebiense Bishop hath to the words of my Text, and the verses next following, especially the Where is to bee seene, that Columbus of­tē gaue forth; that God had chosen him, to fulfill that Prophecie.fourth verse, Apponed a long Where is to bee seene, that Columbus of­tē gaue forth; that God had chosen him, to fulfill that Prophecie. Annotation of Columbus his voyage and Discovery [Page 105] of the New World, or VVest Indies. And where wee also may Obserue, concerning many other Countries and People besides our owne, & among them all Virginia; how One Day already Telleth, and shall still Tell more and more GODS Glory (God grant it may) vnto another.

And so much of the Dayes Beautie and Perfection, to shew how thereby they shew forth, and that most excellently, the Glory of GOD. For, Savonarol. triumph. crut. l. 2. c. 2. Omnis causa in sui perfectione effectus maximè honoratur. Every Cause is most of all honoured, or glorified, by the Effects perfection. Whence the workemans cunning is most seene and most commended in an absolute peece of worke; ac­cording to that, Ecclesiastic. 9. 19.

And all this is to learne vs a good lesson, by the ex­ample of the Dayes, and other of Gods creatures, to doe but as they doe in setting forth GODS Glory: That is, to hold vs to our Owne Glory, and by that which is our Beautie and Perfection; to endeauour to demon­strate vnto all the world, what a Beautifull & Perfect Creatour We all haue. Our best way of Glorifying GOD, being even by that wherein our chiefest Perfe­ction doth consist.

Hence are we by the Scripture so often put in mind of Perfection. Mat. 5. 48. Ye shall therefore be Perfect &c. Heb. 6. Let vs be led on forwards vnto Perfectiō. Mat. 19. If thou wilt be Perfect, &c. Luk. 6. 40. Whosoever will bee a Perfect disciple &c. Col. 1. 28. That wee may present every man Perfect, &c. Col. 3. 14. Loue, which is the bond of Per­fectnesse. Col. 4. That yee may stand Perfect, &c. 2. Tim. 3. 17. That the man of God may be made Absolute, being [Page 106] made Perfect. And, [...]am 1. 4. That yee may be Perfect.

Now wherein this our Perfection consisteth, as it is pointed out vnto vs by those places of holy Scrip­ture, which suggest vnto vs our Perfection: so will it not be vnprofitable to vnfold.

Savonarol v­bi supra cap. 1.Ipsius Hominis vera perfectio in subijciendo se Deo, & ineo venerando potissimum consistit. The true Perfec­tion of man himselfe resideth in mans submitting him­selfe vnto God in due Obedience, & in worshipping of him. In worshipping of him. And indeed, To worship GOD, what else is it, but Ibid.To Turne vnto God, To call vpon him, To subiect our selues wholy vnto him, To desire & en­deavour to become as like Satis Deum coluit, quisquis imitatus est, saith Sencca, opist. 95.vnto him as is possible, & to be made Perfect by him. Againe; there being a twofold wor­ship of God, Externall and Internal: and the Outward be­ing ordained for the Inward, as an handmaide to at­tēd it, so the Internall being the chiefest: It must needs be, that our Chiefest perfectiō must be included within the Inward worship of GOD. Interiorem autem verum Dei cultum, dicimus esse rectitudinem ac perfectionem vitae hominis interioris. And the true inward worship of God, wee call Vprightnesse and Perfection of life in the in­ward man. So The holier a mans life is, the Perfecter is he. Sanctitas verò est interioris hominis perfectio; qua etiam totus homo perficitur. And Holinesse is the Perfection of the inward man, whereby is made perfect the whole man. And therefore by Holinesse and Perfectnes of life is God best Glorified, and most syncerely worshipped.

The Reason here of is plaine, as in the Perfection of other Creatures. For this Inward and Chiefe Perfec­tion [Page 107] standing in Holinesse, and in all kinde of Vertue and Godlinesse sheweth; that much more Holinesse & all kinde of Goodnesse belongeth vnto GOD, as a neere Attribute, who hath attributed so much thereof vnto men, as we see shining in their good life. [...] &c. 1. Pet. 2. 9. That yee may shew forth the Ver­tues of him that called you.

And therefore they come short of most rightly Glorifying GOD by their Chiefe Perfection, yea and of the true and entire Worship of GOD; who more regard the Externall Service of him, then this his In­ternall Worship, & their owne Perfection; who care more to come to Church, to heare Sermons, to re­ceaue the Sacraments, and such like: then to keepe themselues holy and blamelesse in life and conversati­on, vntill the Day of the comming of our Lord Iesus. Preferring therein the mother of pearle before the margarite, the huske before the Diamond, their own Outward Perfection before their Inward, GODS Ex­ternall Worship before his Internall, their own slen­der Glory before GODS, and their owne true and per­fect Glory. And as if GOD were a Body and not a Spi­rit, so they worship him only, or else chiefly, with Bo­dily Service, which profitteth little 1. Tim. 4 8., And not alike in Godlinesse, which is profitable vnto all things: and in Spi­rit and in Truth, as hee requireth to be worshipped Ioh. 4. 24.. For so, by our Internall acts of Puritie and Righteous­nesse, we are made more like vnto GOD, and therefore more Perfect, and therefore better setters forth of GODS Glory, by our neerer resembling of him: then [Page 108] per actus exteriores, by meere and precisely Externall acts of Service, which are but dissembling with GOD.

Dicet aliquis: (saith Sup. Eph 1. 6.Athanasius) Est ergo Gloriae cu­pidus Deus? Nequaquam. Nam nullius Act. 17. 25.indiga est rei Divinitas: sed vult sanè à nobis Gloriam consequi: hoc est, à nostris rectis operibus, &c. Some man will say: why, is God then desirous of Glory, as of a thing which he wā ­teth? No, See the next Sermō, there where Austin is alleaged on Ps. 39. saith he: The Diuinity lacketh nothing. (He hath Glory enough in himselfe, as being the Cause and Foūtain of all Glory, as before ye heard) But t'is his will to be Glorified by vs, that is, by our good Workes. According to that, Mat. 5. 16. (and the like is againe, 1. Pet. 2. 12.) That they may see your good workes, and Glorifie your Fa­ther which is in heaven. And this too, for our owne good, & not Cui nec iusti­tia creaturae cu­ius quam est ne­cessaria, Aug▪ cp. 106. for Gods. For, as the Sun hath no need of vs, but we of him: so God hath no need of our Glo­rifiyng of him, but we haue all neede of the Glory of God; of which we all come so short. Rom. 3. 23. &, as Elihu spea­keth, (Iob. 35. 6, 7, 8.) If thou sinnest, what doest thou a­gainst him? Yea, when thy sinnes be many, what doest thou vnto him? If thou be righteous, what giuest thou vnto Et homil 2. in Ioan. [...].him? or what receiveth he at thine hand? Thy wickednes may hurt a man as thou art: and thy righteousnesse may profit the sonne of man. S. Chrysostome vpon that Rom. 1. 23, 25. (Where the Apostle telleth, how the Gen­tils turned, or changed the Glory, and the Truth of God) saith: Super illud, [...] &c. [...]. They wronged the Truth and Glory of God, as much as in them lay. For indeed, let thē doe their worst, they can not wrong God, who is the Truth; [Page 109] There being no shadow of turning or alteration with him, and he having in himselfe his owne peculiar Glory perpe­tuall, and perpetually inviolable. And the Lily of the Iam. 1. Fol. 28. [...]. Masse saith wel, Gloriae Dei nullum est contrarium ma­lum: quia de bono & de malo resultat Gloria Dei: & de malo inquantum pungit, de bono inquantum remunerat. There is nothing that can crosse or contrary the Glory of God, for that both good and evill redound to his Glory: the one by his revenging, the other by his rewarding of it.

Next, let vs chaunge the name of Perfection into Beauty: Beauty Rationall and Intellectuall, as hath beene said. Which seeing the Dayes do for their parts so pre­cisely maintaine, as hath beene declared: we that are Reasonable and Intellectuall creatures, ought in all reason as curiously to preserue on our parts: least wee proue vnlike, not only to God, but even to our selues: and become more deformed then those creatures, which God hath formed voyd of reason and of vnder­standing.

For that the Beautifying of our selues, the making of our selues Faire and Comely, the preserving of our Beauty, the Trimming and Decking of our selues, is in vs too the setting forth of the Glory of our God. Hence is the Church of Christ, throughout every part thereof, described to be so Faire in the Canticles, chap. 4. ver. 1. Behold, thou art Faire my Loue: behold thou art Faire. And in the 7. verse, Thou art all Faire my Loue. And so Faire in the 45. Psalme, as that God himselfe (ver. 12.) hath pleasure in her Beauty.

But then we must consider too, Beloved, whereon [Page 110] this faire Beauty standeth, and wherein this Comely­nesse consisteth.

And we shall finde it to be that, wherein we saide consisted our Perfection. For, Quae maior hominis pul­chritudo, saith Simon de Vbi supra.Cassia, quàm vt obediat Deo? Certè dixerim nullam, &c: What greater Beauty hath mā, then to obey God? I may well say, none at all. This, Salomon in the end of Cap. 12. v. 13.Ecclesiastes witnesseth, saying, Feare God & keepe his Commandements: this is every man, that is (saith he) for this End is every mā created, & by this doth every man atchieue his chiefest comelynesse. Consider every man severally, and yee shall finde this to be all his Beauty, to be alwaies in Vid. Sap. 8. 3.presence of the first and vnmarreable Beauty, & that the created Fairenesse should be ever neere the vn­created, & the Caused neuer to be neere to leaue his Cause. And, as S. Super Cantic. serm. 31.Bernard hath, Qui clarior, (claritatibus spi­ritualibus) ille propinquior: esse autem clarissimum perve­nisse est. &c. The brighter and fairer a man is, (in Spiritu­all Beauty and Brightnesse) the neerer he commeth vnto God: and to be Most Faire, is even to be Immortali­tie maketh vs neere vnto God. Wis 6. 19present with God, to see him as he is, that is (saith he) to be as he is, & aliqua dissimilitudine non confundi, and not to be speckled or spotted (as now wee are) with any vnlikenesse vnto GOD.

Thus to be Most Faire, Most Perfect, and Most Glo­rious, is not for vs till after this life, and that therein first wee shall haue strived for the positiue and com­paratiue degree of Fairenesse, Perfectnesse, and Glory.

But alas then for the Dayes, & such like creatures! This is not at all competible vnto them in the worlde [Page 111] to come. By how much the more inexcusable are we, if we suffer the Dayes so to outrunne vs in the Service of GOD, when as none but we haue the Reward pro­posed vnto vs. What? shall the Greatest glory redounde vnto vs, Beloved, and to none but vs? And why then can we endure, every part of every Day to do nothing else but shew forth Gods Glory; whilest with vs Al magna.Maxi­ma vitae pars elabitur malè agentibus, Al maxima.magna nihil agē ­tibus, tota aliud agentibus? as Epist. 1.Seneca speaketh; The grea­test part of our life is spent in doing evill, a great part in doing nothing, but all in not doing that that should be dōe, to Gods Glory, so as all things should be done (1. Cor. 10. 31)—Forma Dies vitae, The Day resembleth Life, saith Carmin. in Genes.Hi­lary. I would, Beloved, our life did as well resemble but the Day. Were I but a Nightingale, could Arriar. Epict. lib. 1. cap. 17.Epicte­tus say, I should doe the duty of a Nightingale: if a Swan, the duty of a Swan. But now that I passe them, by being en­dowed with Reason: reason is, I should Honour and Glorifie God. This indeed is My Dutie: this I doe, and will continue to doe, not giving over this charge of mine, vntill I be dis­charged of this life. For what can I, nay what ought I to doe else, but to extoll the Name of God, and to shew forth his Glory. If a Heathen man could say all this: what then, thinke you, ought each of vs Christians to say, and to doe accordingly? If God had made me a Day, I ought to haue done the dutie of a Day; if a Night, the dutie of a Night: And that had beene, To shewe forth Gods glory; But now that he hath created me after his owne Image, & therefore more liuely to expresse his Glory, according to that 1. Cor. 11. 7. He is the Image & Glory of GOD: so ma­king [Page 112] me to excell the Day in more then Reason, yea &, more then was reason, making mee a promise of an Everlasting Crowne of Glory, if I would but for a short season shew forth his Glory; reason is, if reason be for any thing, that I, I more then any thing, should set forth the Praise, the Honour, and the Glory of my GOD. This indeed is my dutie: for this am I most of all obliged vnto GOD: this I doe, and doing will doe continually, not deserting this dutie of mine, vntill I shall haue paid nature her last duties. For what can I, nay what ought I to doe else, so long as I haue any being, but to glorify GOD the author of my being, and of my well being; begin­ning it here in this life, which in the life to come shall bee perfited; here longing, & thither looking for to come, where being Vid. Sap 8. 27.ioyned vnto GOD, and made like vnto him, wee must needs enioy Most Glorious Felicitie; There being, as Plotin saith, no felicitie, no pleasure, En [...]e. lib. 1. in initio.or cōtentment with­out GOD: who is, as saith Iamblichus. another, Omnis Beatitudinis fastigium, meta, finis: The height of Happinesse, the goale of Glory, and period of Perfection.

To whom this Day and evermore bee ascribed all Perfection, Happinesse, and Glory.

Part. 4. HAving in the Subiect of the Days Speech already spoken of the Glo­ry of GOD in Generall, how it is reported by them: we are now, by the same guidance of our GOD as before, to descend with the Prophet David, to some ex­cellent Particulars of GODS Glory vttered by the same Reporters. Like vnto those, who, hauing left the main Ocean, are now entered into an arme or creeke of the Sea neerer home; or like those, who for a while haue beene lifted vp to see the flame of a great fire, but af­terwards let downe againe, can still behold the Spar­kles Vide Ecclus. 42. 22., and no more.

Before, One Day told [The Glory of God] vnto another, Now, One Day telleth [a Word] vnto another. Illud incer­tum [Page 114] esse apparet, de quo verbo, & qua Scientia loquatur hic versus, saith Wolfgangus Musculus on this place. It is vncertaine what Word is here meant, that one Day tel­leth another; as also, what Knowledge one Night is in this verse said to teach another. And he proposeth two Ac­ceptions.

Either that there should be vnderstood The Word of God, by which the Heavens were made, and The Know­ledge of God, whereby they were most cunningly made; or else, The Word of the Heavens, of the Dayes, and of the Nights predicating GODS Glory. And he saith, that this latter seemeth vnto him to be simplicior; (the simpler, or the plainer) yet so, vt dictione Scientiae, quam indicari di­cit, non eam qua nos Deum cognoscimus, sed qua Deus coe­los summa sapientia condidit ac disposuit, intelligamus. That by the Word [Knowledge] which one Night is said to teach another, we vnderstand not that Knowledge by which we knowe God: but that Knowledge, by which God after his most excellent wisdome made and disposed of the Heavens.

But who seeth not, Beloved, that this most excel­lent knowledge of GOD leadeth vs to that other, which is, our knowledg of God? as also, that the know­ledge whereby we knowe GOD, againe conducteth vs to that knowledge whereby GOD made the world? Like as whē in a Regresse Demonstratiue, we first de­monstrate the Cause by the Effect; & then againe the Effect by the Cause. So that it commeth all to one, whether of those two knowledges wee there vnder­stand.

Againe, to propose two meanings of Worde, and [Page 115] Knowledge here: and for the word, Word, to embrace the latter; but for the worde, Knowledge, to entertaine the former: (as here Musculus doth) what else is it, but indeed to embrace & entertaine both? both? yea, Belo­ued, and so we may, & must too, accept of a Word here in my Text in both these senses: vnlesse we will be very extravagant from a whole streame of Interpreters of best note. And t'is the rule of S. Austin, conf. l. 12. c. 31. Cū alius dixerit, hoc sensit quod ego: et ali, Imo illud quod ego: Relligiosius me arbitror dicere, cur nō vtrum (que) potiùs, si vtrum (que) verum est [...] & si quid tertium, & si quid quartū &c. When one saith, Such a thing is vnderstood by such a place of Scripture: another saith, another thing is thereby vnderstood: I hold it the more religious course for me to say, and why not rather both, if both be true? yea, if a third, or if a fourth meaning? And, Ibid. August.Vnus Deus sacras liter as vera & diversa visuris multorum sensibus temperavit. God hath so tempered the Scriptures, as that hee hath made them fit for diverse vnderstandings, so long as they are true. And, in his first booke, de Genes. ad liter. the 18 ^th Chapter: Si qua scripta divina legerimus, quae possint, salva fide, qua imbuimur, alijs at (que) alijs parere sententijs, in nulla earum nos praecipiti affirmatione it a proijciamus &c: If we light vpon any place of Scripture, which may, a­agreeably to the analogie of faith, yeeld vs more interpre­tations then one: Let vs not be headlong in affirming but one, with excluding of the rest. Yea or, with praeiudicing of the rest: as himselfe saith afterwardes of himselfe, in the 20 ^th Chap. Nō aliquid vnum temerè affirmans cū praeiudicio alterius expositionis fortasse melioris, &c. Not [Page 116] Peremptorily or rashly affirming but one meaning, with preiudice of another exposition, which happily may be the Vide etiam Fulgent▪ ad Mo­nim lib. 2 pag. 113, 114, 117, 118.better.

Because of all which, Beloved, I intend (God willing) to prosecute the Word, that here One Day is said to tell another, not only in those two senses last aboue men­tioned; but in some seeming other, agreeable to whol­some doctrine, consonant to the circumstances of my Text, and not at all dissenting from, or preiudicing the most commonly receaued interpretations; rather kee­ping my selfe to the libertie of the word, then any way ei­ther to imprison it, or the riches of the Observations that arise from it; as one M. Hutton in his Answer to the Reasōs for refusall of Subscription, pag 86. & see Bernard. su [...]er Cani. serm. 51. Non sane à pru­dente de diver­sitate sensuum indicabor, &c.of late, as out of S. Austin, hath in like case well pronounced.

One Day telleth a word vnto another.] 1. Aword, 2. But a word, and 3. But One word.

1 1. First: A word. And here first, in [A word] wee haue whereby to rectifie the words, Mottes, or Mottos, Apophthegmes, Aenigmaes, Symbols, Posies, Em­blemes, Titles, and Inscriptions of these dayes. These Dayes? No. But rather, The Men of these dayes; by the Example of These, and All Dayes else, and of The Heavens and The Firmament. Whose Mottos, (pleasant and Amiable See the Ita­lian, Motto. Mottos) and whose Firme Im­bossings & Glorious Imbrodery, are still The Glory of God: according to that which already yee haue heard, and shall hereafter heare, so long as The Dayes Report la­steth. For so, One Day telleth a word vnto another.]

Where first, vnto Gods Glory, I cannot but cōmend the moderne Mottos, Posies, and Inscriptions of Christiā Princes, whether in their Coynes, or otherwise: In [Page 117] which The Glory of God is ether Expressed, or evidently Imployed. Such as, wherein God and his Grace is men­tioned, is put to be their Helper, is implored for Tuition, is magnified for Vnity, is vnited to Right and Equity, is honoured by Dishonour to Euill Thinking, by Things Admirable being the Lords Doing, by the shield of Faith protecting, by Iesus passing through the Midst of his E­nimies; by Victory and Saluation ascribed to The Crosse of Christ Iesus: and the like.

In all which, compared with the Profanenesse and Idolatry of Pagans; and the Abolishing thereof, as of Darknesse at the Sun-rising, yee may discerne Rev. 5. 5. Gen. 49. 8, 9.The Ly­on of the Tribe of Iuda, as it were by his Paw; The pro­pagation of his kingdome, by those Signes and Sym­bols, those Stamps and Impressions of Gods Glory left on the Earth; whilest his Hand is in the Gen. 49: 8.Necke, and Col­lar of his Enimies: and whilest he stampeth and Trāpleth Vid. Isai. 63, 2, 3.vpō Infidelity, dashing it in pieces like a Potters Psal. 2. Yee may see his Inheriting the Heathen, by making Kings and Iudges of the Earth to be so Wise and Learned, so to Serue the Lord, so to Reioice in Him, so to Kisse the Sonne, and to put their Trust in Him: as that their very Mottos, Emblemes, Inscriptions, Dedications, and Conse­crations signifie the same. Pilate himselfe (by the Diuine power & providence, & maugre the Enimies of Christ) Quod scripsit Pilatus, de In­scriptione, prae­scripsi [...]. prescribing to them herein, when he wrote that Ti­tle, or Inscription, and put it on the Crosse of Christ: The Interpretation whereof Haec siquidem Eructuat Inter­pretati [...], &c Sim de Cass [...]in Ev [...]ng. lib. 13.Eructuateth the great power of Christ; and how Invincible He, the Intitled, is; against whose very Title nothing could prevaile. But especi­ally [Page 118] He himselfe, That Intitled King, that Crowned and Flowrishing King of Kings, & Lord of Lords, hath taught them so to doe: in that which hee said touching the Coyne of the Tribute, and the Image and Superscription thereof: Render Mat. 22.therfore vnto Caesar the things which are Caesars, and vnto God the things that are Gods. The things that are Gods? What are they? Christ elsewhere taught thē saying: Mat. 6. 13. pervse also 1. Cor. 29. v. 11, 12, 13. where are specified,Thine is the Kingdome, and the Power, and the Glory, for Ever. So that therefore, even out of the Image and Inscription, there is a Tribute due vnto God too: a Tribute of Thankes, and of Praysing his Glorious Name: a Tribute of Attributing, and Ascribing the Glory of the I­mage and Inscription, and All Biches Honour Strength Greatnesse Power Glory Victorie Maiestie Kingdome Supremacie. All in Heaven All in Earth.that is Caesars, vnto GOD.

This The Dayes also doe not omit to tell vs: which what Name, Title, or Inscription soever they beare, whether of the Sunne, or of the Moone, or any other: yet their word, or Motto sheweth, That the Glory there­of, all the Glory of the Sunne, the Moone, the Starres, the Heavens, and the Dayes of Heaven, and of all things else, is, and ought to be attributed, and appropred to the All Gloriom Creatour. For so, One Day telleth a Word vnto another.]

Where next I cannot choose but reprehend the See the Re­maines of a Greater work.Vaine and Prophane, yea and Diabolicall Mottos, Ti­tles, Devises, Emblems, Impresas, Epitaphes, Epigrams, A­nagrams, Pageants, Playes, Enterludes, Inscriptions, Dedi­cations, & such like, applauded & embraced by Christs Souldiers: & yet are they Antichristian Badges. Where­of some are Wanton and Lascivious, some Prowde and [Page 119] Vaine-glorious; some Prodigall and Luxurious, some False and Iniurious, Iniurious are they all to Gods Glory, by being Extravagant from His words Eph. 5. v 4, 5. 19. 20. Eph 4. 29. & inde. 1. Cor. 15. 33. Col 3. [...]. 9. &, 46, &c.words-dire­ction: ether by Corrupting of Good Māners, or by some­thing which doth Coincidere, (meete together with it in the Divle, and fall together into Hell:) as by pro­pagating of Profanenesse; by Affecting to Magnifie Mens Names, insteede of GODS; by Engendring of Strife and Scandals; by Intituling themselues, or others, to that which is not theirs; yea and to that which is not theirs; yea and to that Isai 9. 6. Wonderfull, Father &c. Christs Ti­tles. Papall Glory of God which is not theirs, and vnto which all that is theirs should be assigned, and resigned.

One Day telleth a word vnto another.] Where, in the next place, obserue with me, how for [word] some Translate Speach; voice, or Language; According to those words of the third verse. Gods Glory by Speech, & Lāguage

Here also the Great Glory of God is seene, by that great Glory of Man aboue other Creatures, wherwith GOD hath doubed and enobled him, the better to en­able him to set forth the Glory of God that so exalted him.

This hath beene before entreated of. And appea­reth to be so much the more Excellent a Gift, because it is so long a comming. For it is not given Ordinarily in an Instant, but in Succession of Time, & in the pro­cesse of many Dayes and Nights. We are Infants a great while, and with much adoe learne to Speake our own mother Tongue: but with much more adoe the languages of others. We must bee long experien­ced and practised therein, before we can be perfect.

This should teach vs to make high reckoning ther­of: and, when we haue this gift, to imploy it diligent­ly to that purpose, wherefore we had it: seeing that it was so long before we had it, & before that we coulde Glorifie God by it; seeing also that the Time will not be long, before our Speech will failc vs. For this too Ex­perience learneth vs, This One Day telleth another: The Speach and word of God to be Aeternall, but the Speach and words of Man to be every Day neerer and neerer to Expiration.

‘One Day telleth a word, or Speach vnto another.]’ Be­hold another Actuary, or rather a whole Chorus, or By Increase of Speech & Languages, Company of Tongue-Actors, singing melodiously vnto Gods Glory. Namely, the great Increase of Languages, that Continuance of Dayes and Times hath vttered: in so much that already they amount in reckoning to many Hundred. There are (saith the 1. Cor. 14. 10Apostle) so many kindes of voyces in the world, and none of them is without signification. Surely no. Nor without Signification of the Glory of God. In the shewing forth whereof: see here, how the world hath from time to time profited by Languages.

The time was when, Gen 11. 1. By Ʋnitie thereof, The whole Earth was of one Language, and of one Speach. And Then did One Day tell another the Glory of God, by that One Speach, or Lan­guage. Vnder which GOD wrought so many wonder­full works, and whereby He, the author of that vnion, did then the better enable the Nations to vnitie of Mindes in the true worship of him, and to the attaining [Page 121] to the Knowledge of the Truth with more facility. But when they abused that Vnion, and that easie way of getting vnderstanding, (by vnderstanding all that was spoken in the world) to Proud & Presumptuous Associ­ation and Confederacie: Thē also GOD declared his Pow­er, in Confounding their Language, and making such a By Confusi­on thereof, Division among them, as was never heard of in the world, and which their vnheard of Malice and Presūp­tion brought vpō them; That one of them vnderstood not the other: So to giue them to vnderstand their du­tie by Diuision and Want of vnderstanding, which be­fore they would not learne by Vnion of Speech and vn­derstanding. Yet even then too, the Powerfull Wisdome and Goodnesse of GOD proceeded on still to the farther manifestation of it selfe, by that Confusion and Diuision of Speech: even at that Day, out of that Babeling Infancy By Distin­ction and Distinct Multiplici­ty thereof, out of that Confusion:of the world Ordaining his Praise. His Praise: In produ­cing afterwards Distinct Knowledge out of that Confusi­on, as it were Light out of Darknesse; making it appeare every Day more and more vnto the world, by the en­suing Multiplicitie of Languages, which in Times ensu­ing were also vnderstood, How Well he could Teach, that had so well Divided. How out of the Mouthes of Such In­fants, as Men then were, and ever would bee, but that God Teacheth them, hee could so well Divide vnto the World, & Disperse According to one signi­fication of [...], for which [...] is also put. His Praise of Knowledge. He still pre­serued Knowledge, that was Good, in the midst of that Division; yea and increased it thereby: making after­wards Diverse Languages and the Guift of Tongues, a meanes of dividing greater Knowledge, and more am­ple [Page 122] By preser­vation ther­of, in the midst of that Confusion. Declaration of his Glory to the world. To which rightly appertaineth, the straunge and admirable pre­servatiō of so much of the Hebrew Tongue (the Speech, as is most approued, that first was in the world, and in the which Gods Word was written) in the midst, not on­ly of that Babels Lingua He­braea in Divisi­one Gentium per loquelam so la populo ad Dei culium pertinē ­te remāsit. Sim. de cass. lib. 13. Vid. Bertram. in praefat. in cō ­par. Linguae Heb. & Aram. Confusion, nor only of the Aegypti­acall Affliction of the Hebrewes, but also of that after- Confusion & Mixture of the Language of the Hebrews, in their Idolatrous Familiaritie & Commerce with the Assyrians, and in their Babylonish and Chaldeish Captiui­ties; It appearing thereby, and One Day telling another, That not only The Word of the Lord endureth foreuer, but also that Speech and Language, in which The Worde of the Lord In illa locutus est Christus, & mundum docu­it qu [...] nesciebat. Sim. de Cass. vbi suprà. Gods Glory by Extraor­dinary and Miracu­lous Speach: Spake, or was Deliuered, is so farre forth kept inviolable to the End of the world.

One Day telleth a Word, or Speech vnto another.] Here­out issueth now farther into our discourse and consi­deration, Extraordinarie, & Miraculous Speech: where­by GOD for the farther Ordination of his praise hath af­forded vnto men most wonderfull Instructions; That so they, with whom the Word of GOD spoken by the Ordinarie Admirable Speech and Language of Men & of the World will not prevaile: yet, by the vttering of it by Extraordinarie and Miraculous Speech, aboue the Speech of Men, or the Personous Personated Speech of the World, may bee enforced to the Ever Hallowing of his Name.

By the Gift of Diverse Tongues: Hence was the Guift of Speaking Diverse Langua­ges so miraculoussy bestowed on the Apostles (Act. 2.) for the Promulgation of the Glorious Gospell of Ie­sus [Page 123] Christ, and of the wonderfull Workes of GOD. To which, as to a most strangely vouchsafed meanes, we that are partakers of the Gospell, and of the Spirit of Grace, owe no lesse then that Participation; and there­fore owe the giuing of Great Glory vnto God in that behalfe. In respect whereof, One Day doth so tell the Glory of GOD vnto another, That diverse, induced al­so by that Rom. 10. 18. Where the 4 ^th verse of this Psalme is alleaged, haue by the Dayes here in my Text vnderstood Christ and his Apostles, Christ Telling his Apostles (as formerly ye heard In the first Sermon.) or else Christs Twelue Apostles: who, like vnto the Twelue Houres of the Day, by that Light, that he the Brightest Sunne infused into them, especially by the Effusion of His Holy Spirit, and conferring the Guift of Diverse Languages vpon them, Preached The Knowledge of Saluation to people of All Tongues and Languages.

And here wee may note their vnthankfulnesse and rash iudgement, who, contrary to the Rule of the A­postle (1. Cor. 14. 39.) dislike and forbid Speaking with Tongues; so farre forth, as that one Word, or Sentence in the Church, in another Tongue then theirs, although with Interpretation annexed, doth offend them. They being of like Superstition for their owne Tongue, as others are and haue beene for the Hebrew, Greeke, and Latine. And they, who before could not be suffered to haue any Service in their owne Tongue, now not wil­lingly suffering any one Word in Sermon, or Bible, to be out of their owne Tongue. When as the retaining of some Words in another Language, especially by com­mon [Page 124] vse and Explication vnderstood, maketh much for A dification, and for the Glorious Building of Gods Praise. For (to omit many other reasons) those Wordes, yea, or Sentences, are they not, like vnto the Reserved Manna, a Signe and Memoriall vnto vs that Beleeue, of Gods Good Will towards vs, in that he hath made choice of vs also, to call vs to the knowledge of the Truth by meanes of Diuerse Tongues, Vnderstood and Interpre­ted? & in that, from former Darknesse, he hath brought vs to such plentie of Light in him, and hath, by the Re­port of his Glory, so richly and Superabundantly furnish­ed vs with Knowledge in our own Tongue; That we haue now somewhat to spare from our owne necessarie v­ses, to lay vp in his Glorious Golden Her. 9▪ 4. pot, in Signe of Thankfulnesse? Like as doth our Mother Vniversitie; whose Latin seemeth now to bee turned into Gold, Gold of GODs Glory; whilst, in the time of the Spirituall Vintage of Good-Wine, it doth of late make Latine Hymnes of GODs Glory to be the Prefixes of the Latine Sermons of His Glory. Wherein, among other commē ­dable ensignements, appeareth a Signe of Thankfulnes vnto GOD. Without which, it is to be feared least GOD returne vs, among others, That Signe of his displea­sure, To speake vnto vs with men of other Tongues, and with other Lips: and that the rather, because of our Iu­daizing, that is, our Obstinacie, our Vnbeleefe, and Diso­bedience, in regard of The Report of GODs Glory, which Every Day bringeth vnto vs, both in our Owne & other Rom. 10. 16. & vid. Ioh. 12 37 38, &c. Languages. In so much that still it may bee said of all in generall, They haue not all Obeyed the Gospell: and, Lord, [Page 125] who hath beleeued our Report? Yea; When the Sonne Luk, 18. 8. of Man commeth, shall he finde Faith on Earth? not­withstanding so many wayes of speaking, and so many kindes of Tongues and Languages; by the Hearing and vnderstanding of which in all their variety, variety Extraordinary and Miraculous, GOD hath laboured to make Men to Beleeue. By the Speech of Superiors; Angels,

For hence it is too, that GOD hath divers times spo­ken vnto Men by Angels. Angels? And would no other serue the turne? Would not all the Speach and Lan­guages spoken by all the People of the Earth, and manie of them Priests and Prophets too, suffice? Is man so bad a Scholler, so dull of Heb. 5, 11. Hearing and of vnderstanding? Then hath he so much the more to answere for, if ne­ther the Speach of Angels may make the word of God to fructifie within him. Heb. 2. & the Lord of Angels. For the word of God Spokē by An­gels was stedfast, and every Transgression and Disobedi­ence received a iust recompence of reward. And If so (saith the Apostle) How shall we escape, if we Neglect so great Salvatiō, which at the first begā to be Spoken by the Lord, &c? And, chap. 1. ver. 2. God hath in these last Dayes Spo­kē Mat. 21. 38, 37. vnto vs by his Sonne, &c: his Sonne & Heire: whose speach, of all others, we should Reverence. Here is the Speach of one that is Greater then the Angels. And will you heare the Speach of those that are Lesser thē the Angels? All shewing forth the powerfulnesse of By the Speech of Inferiors:his Speach that is the Greatest, and conferring a still Apposite Apposition to his Glory.

Mē; Dumb, & Infants. One Day telleth another.] For that God hath some­times made the Dumbe to speake, and taught an Infant [Page 126] in an Instant to Speake wisely. And whē (not to speak of All the Dumb that Christ endowed with Speach) he made the Children to Cry in the Temple, Hosanna to the Sonne of David. (Mat. 21. 15.) To which Christ him selfe (vers. 16.) applyeth that of the 8. Psalme: Out of the Mouth of Infants (or, Babes) and Sucklings hast thou Vt Psal. 8. 2. & Heb. 10. 5. See all the Significatiōs of [...]. Prepared, Ordeined, Fitted, Fitly composed, and (accor­ding to the Hebrew) Founded thy praise. A weake Foū ­dation, to build vpon; especially Such a worke of Such a Founder. The Foundation being sometimes no better then a Babell, or Confusion. But so did he sometimes out of a lesse matter (by as much as Nothing is lesse then Any Thing) make All Things, and All Things to His Glory. So is his power made perfect through weaknes. (2. Cor. 12. 9.) So hath he chosen the Foolish things of the world to Confound the Wise, and the Weake to confound the Mighty, &c. 1. Cor. 1. 27. That no Flesh should Glory in His presence.

It is there also worth the observation; how that those words, Out of the Mouth of Infants, &c: are inser­ted in the Second verse of the 8. Psalme, betweene the first and third verses, in which the Prophet magnifieth Gods Glory in consideration of the Heauens, & such like workes of his, and his Ordeining; As also the words of my Text are, in the second verse of this Psalme, inter­posed Sun, Moon, Starr, Hea­vē, & Day-Infants;betweene the first verse, and the rest; in which the Heauens too, and such like Creatures, are brought in for the Declaration of Gods Glory. As though the Hea­vens too, and the Dayes of Heauen, the Sunne, the Moone, [Page 127] the Starres, the Firmament, and the rest, were to be rec­koned among those Babes and Infants, out of whose Mouthes, together with others, hee hath Appointed the predication and perfect Composition of his prayses. And as though that second verse of the 8. Psalme might serue to Parallell my Text, in the Dayes Parliament of Gods These In­fants Parli­ament. Prayses.

And here we may not omit, to bring in the Sunne and the Moone, the Dayes & the Nights, as it were Kings with their Nobility, in their Extraordinary Attire and Parliamentall Robes, most wonderfully and Miraculously Testifying the Glory of their Creatour, & our Redee­mer.

Among other things so Strangly Enacted by them; 1 we haue in most infallible Recorde, That Worke, that Things there En­acted. Strange worke of the Lords, That Act of his, that Strange Act of His (Isai. 28. 21.) Whereby the Sunne, at His Bid­ding, stood still in Gibeon, and the Moone in the Valley of Aialon. The Sunne, that otherwise, & in This Psalme, fo Swiftly & with such Alacrity Runneth his Course; yet There, by the same Commanunding power, had no power to proceede, was put to a Demurre, Abode in the midst of the Heaven, and Hasted not to goe downe for a Whole Day. And there was no Day like that Day before it, nor after it (Iosh. 10. 12, 13.) When One Day was as Long as Two (Ecclesiasticus, 46. 4.) One Day went beyond it selfe in Lauding the Lord: and lost his owne proper Name, in Magnifying the Name of the Creatour. For how should it haue any longer the Name of Day, that was so much Longer then a Day, & was nether Artificial, nor [Page 128] Naturall? Yet is it stiled Such a Day, as the like was ne­ver before it, nor after it. A Day of more then Ordinary Continuance, in his Luminous & Voluminous Expo­sitiō of his Makers Glory, by observing his Ordinance: And therfore Dignified with the Name of None-Such, and to be of an Higher Order then the rest.

Here men may learne, to preferre the Glory of Gods Name before their owne; To approue themselues the Ministers and Servants of Reporting Gods Honour, by their Honour and Dishonour, by Evill Report, and good 2. Cor. 6. Report: That the losse of Name or Reputation for God and Godlynesse, for the Glorious Gospels sake, & in the Service of ether, shall be with manifold advātage restored them in this Life, and that that is to come; Lastly, that the best way to get Extraordinary Prece­dencie and Reputation, and an Excellent Name aboue o­thers, is by Exceeding others in Paines and Industry, by Extraordinary Points and Exploits of Gods Service, & by Keeping his Commaundements, whether in things Ordinary or Extraordinary, with Ordinary and Extra­ordinary Endeavour.

All this we are better taught, then by all this: even by The Day and Sunne Christ Iesus; who as he was im­ployed in the Most Extraordinary Works of GODS Glory, and therein demeaned himselfe with Most Extraordi­nary Obedience, and losse of Worldly Reputatirn, not See­king his Own Glory: so is he also Most Highly Exalted, & Phil. 2. Heb. 1.hath obtained Most Extraordinaoy Appellations, a Most Excellent Name, and A Name aboue Every Name, vnto The Glory of God the Father.

[Page 129] Another strāge Work of Gods Enacted by the Sun, & 2 by the Day, was: The Suns, not Stāding Still, as before, but Going Tē Degrees Backward, in the time of King He­zekiah Isai, 38. &, 2. Chr. 20..A wōderful Retrogradatiō of the Sū, that was so Sensible in a Sū Diall. A strange Reiournemēt of the Suns Dayes Iourney; of the Iournal, or Day-Booke, and of the Dayes Parliamēt of Gods Glory. On which both the Sū & his People are still ready to Dance their Attendance, whether it be by Tracing Ordinarily Forward, or Extra­ordinarily Backward, or else by Stāds & Pauses Superna­turall. Yea and the Sun-Day, the best of all others, is the best of all others for this Dauncing. Hee that went more then Ten, or Ten Thousand Degrees Backward by his Humiliation, is our best leader and teacher in Going Forwarde, in Standing Still, and Going Back­ward, and in Going Forward by Standing Still, & Go­ing Backward. When as yet we Men and women, the Glory of GOD Inviting and Commanding vs, will not Mat 11. 17. Daunce: will neither Goe Ordinarily Forward in our Callings with Perseverāce, nor, crossing our Corrupt Nature, Stand Still with Extraordinary Patience, nor Goe Extraordinarily Backward with Humilitie.

3 A third thing Enacted was The Darknes, which, when Christ Crucified, was over all the Earth, from the Sixt Houre vnto the Ninth Houre Mat. 27. Mar. 15. Luk. 23.. When as The Sun was Darkned: (Luk. 23. 45.) Darkned with a Super natu­rall Eclipse; both in respect of the Cause thereof, and of the Time that it Lasted. The Cause: whether it were; The Moone Miraculausly Capering to and fro, from the point of Opposition to Closing in Coniunction with the Sun As Dionys. Areopagit. who diligent­ly obserued it seemeth to relate. Clavius likewise saith (vpon Iohn de Sacr. Bosc. cap. 4 pag 531.) [...]poiē ­tia divina Luna, relicto suo pro­prio cursu, ad Solem accessit, ipsum (que) [...]obis occultavit; That the Moone (at that Time) leaving his owne proper course, came by the power of God Mira­culously to the Sunne, & so hid him frō our sight.: or whether the Moone, then Interposed be­tweene [Page 130] Mens Sight and the Sunne, was the Iniquitie, Infidelitie, Crueltie, and Ignorance of the Iewes, which was then and afterwards at the Full: And was then, & hath beene ever since too neere allied to the Taile & Head of the Old Dragon: As also the Indignity and Com­passion that the Sunne, the Moone, and the Day were then moued withall; not induring as it were to hold the candle, or to giue Light, at the offering of such hainous Iniury to their Creatour: no, nor to shew thē ­selues in their Ordinary Glad and Light Garments; but being themselues also clad in Sad Mourning Weedes of Darknesse, where they saw such Deeds of Darknesse, and The Lord of their Light to be so full of Dolours, So­lis (que) Labores: And their Sun to be so pained, in his being pawned & punished for vs: The Day as it were Disdai­ning and Disclaiming those Houres to be any of his, wherein The Lord of Glory should be Crucified: & be­ing contented, for Christs sake, to loose, by an Eclipse, Three Howres of that little Time of his life, that con­sisteth but of Twelue.

The Cause of that Contentednesse of The Day, was another, if not the only Cause of that Eclipse▪ namely, That men might thereby the better Scan The Glo­ry, and The Power of Christs Deitie. That, as the Sunne was then so Extraordinarily and Supernaturally Obscu­red: so he was an Extraordinary and Supernaturall Sun, The Sunne of Righteousnesse, that Suffered. That, as whē the Sunne is Eclipsed, The Taile or Head of the Dragon is very Neerely Touched: so the Eclipsing of This Sun and Sonne of God, by his Humiliation and Sufferings, [Page 131] should thereby proue to bee His Godheads Breaking of the Serpents Head. That the Ordinary Sun Gaue Place, and hid his head, as it were from God Almightie, when That Sun was once Exalted no higher thē The Crosse. That well may the Ordinarie Sunne Shew his Greatest Countenance in his Lowest Estate: yet he cannot shew so great Power in his Highest, as Christ shewed in his Low­est. That His Setting may haue that which of Two Hen. 2. and Rich. 1. vid. Cābd. in fol. pag. 206.others is versified, of it selfe alone best verified: Mira cano: Sol occubuit, Nox nulla sequuta est. A wonder t'is to Tell: Sun set, no Night befell. Yea and this Sunnes Set­ting was such, as brought More Day, and Greater Light vnto the whole World, then ever the Sun of the World did to One Halfe of the World, at the Highest point of his Liberall Distribution of Light vnto the Day. That His Descending was to such a Place, where the Serpent Py­thō might haue lyen safe enough, for ever any other Phoebus being able to come neere to hurt him. Lastly, That, as the Brightnesse & Glory of the Temporall Sun doth after a sort Demonstrate the Supernaturall Splendor and Glory of that Eternall: (according to what heretofore hath bin spoken) so the World being thus Depriued of the Sun and Day-Light, by a Superna­turall Eclipse, argueth The Departure of the Eternall Sun out of the World by a Strange way: a Way, whereof his Godhead was vncapeable; and yet a Way Supernaturally munited with such Coūtermands of Nature, as were competible and possible to none, but the Divine Na­ture.

This Dionysius Areopagita, being a Philosopher, was [Page 123] able to collect out of that Eclipse. Who, as History relates, being in Athens, and seeing there that strange Eclipse, brake out into these words: Either the God of Na­ture doth now suffer, or else the World shall be Dissolued. The Athenians too themselues, as t'is reported, by the strangenesse of that Eclipse, coniectured somwhat more then ordinary concerning The Godhead, and The worshipping of him, though Ignorantly: and therevpon erected an Altar with that Inscriptiō, To the vnknowne God. Act. 17. 23.

Out of all which there arise vnto vs these ēsuing Lights of Instruction, & Articles of Admonition, drawn out of the Parliamentall Act of the Darknesse of One Day.

1 That not the very Bonds of Nature, or of Na­turall Affection, should tie vs so fast, should bee so deere, or goe so neere vnto vs, as The Glory of GOD, in our Obeying his Commandements, & his Countermands. And that we should be like our Father Abraham: who, vpon the Appearing of the Command of The God of Glory, Got him out of his Countrey, from his Kinred, & from his Fathers house, vnto another countrey, and from place to place, not Knowing whether he went (Heb. 11. 8.) vntill he came, where he had not a foot of inheritance. Yea and, causing Naturall Affection to stoope to the Affecting & Effecting of GODS Glorious Commād, he Offered his Sonne, his only Sonne Isaac. And yet woe is vs, that are so farre off from Forsaking Father & Mother, and the rest that Naturally we are addicted vnto, for the procuring of GODS Glory; that wee will not, at his commandement, Offer vnto him that which co­steth [Page 133] vs little or nothing, and is not Repugnant, but Agreeable to any, but our Corrupt Nature.

2 That we are very blameable, that will not loose, or rather finde (for Hee that so looseth his life, shall finde it) some few Dayes or Howers of our Life, that consisteth of 3 so many yeeres, in the Maintaining of Gods Glory.

That we take heed of Iewish Infidelitie, Crueltie, Ini­quitie, Ignorance, and more then Iewish Crucifying A­gaine vnto our selues The Lord of Glory, and making a mocke of him. For feare least, if our Deeds draw neere a­gaine to the Taile or Head of the Old Dragon, in being like vnto Darknesse, and Symbolizing with the Divle, or his Members; God strike vs with more then Aegyp­tian Exod. 10. 21 which may bee also rec­koned among the Acts of This Parlia­ment. As also the Star that directed the wisemen to Christ, Mat. 2Darknesse; and the Light that now (GOD bee Glorified) we haue, be taken from vs, our Sun & Moone be Eclipsed, our Day bee turned into Night, and the Length of our Dayes, both here and in the Land of Pro­mise, be elipped off, more then Three So Long lasted the Darknesse at Christs Cru­cifying; as is aboue speci­fied. Houres, or, Three Dayes So long the Aegyptian Darknesse..

That wee should gladly Suffer together with Christ, that, being conformable to his passions, Wee may also 4 Reigne together with him.

5 That we ought To Conforme our selues vnto the time of Christs passion: not to passe it in mirth and iollitie, but in weeping for our selues, in chastising of our selues by true Poenitencie, without Sparing of our selues; our Sinfull selues, who by our Doings haue put Christ to his Sufferings. The most seasonable and rea­sonable celebration whereof is not in Feasting, but in Fasting, Praying, Praysing, Preaching, and the like: nei­ther [Page 134] in standing farre off in worldly Opposition, but in Drawing neere, with Soul and Body, vnto the Righte­ous Sun; who is neerer to vs then the Heavens, even so Neere as in our Hearts and in our Mouthes; (Rom. 10.) and, as that In Him we Liue, and Moue, and haue our Be­ing. Act. 17. Likewise, To be Serviceable and Applyable vnto the other Dayes of the Lord, the Dayes with Espe­ciall A Day in thy Courts is better then a Thousand. Psal. 84. 10. & See hereof, pag. 10, 11, & 13.Happines Destinated & Appointed for the Ser­vice of the Lord, & The Declaration of his Glory, for some Extraordinary Benefits bestowed on his Crea­tures. Thē to Reioice with them that Reioice, & not to be like to those, who (according to the Arabiā See there­of, the Lear­ned Erpenius; in his Exposi­tion of Ara­bian Pro­verbs.proverb) Loose a Margarite vpon the Festivall Day; yea thē loose the vnion of the Spirit, & so (t'is to be feared) the most precious pearle of the Kingdome Heaven. Whilest they can not brooke the Church, or some that are in it, or the way vnto it, vpon the Holy Dayes: when especial­ly we ought to goe, though it were a farther & a har­der way, from the vtmost partes of Iury to Ierusalem, from the blindest corner of Dissension to the sight of peace, from our owne Houses to GODS House, and the place where His Honour Dwelleth. Then, and There Spiritually-Supernaturally to Leape For Heaven, To it, From that which is most Opposite vnto it: To resigne our Worldly Businesses and Delights; which by the In­terposition of Earthly Cogitations, doe disioyne & se­parate vs, even vpon the Sunday, from our Lightest Sū and Brightest Day, as it were by the whole length of the Diameter of Heavenly and Eternall Things.

6 That it behoveth vs, to hasten away from those points [Page 135] of Opposition, wherein we Christians, ether Prince or People, stand, while Christ is Crucified; to Spirituall vnity and Coniunction: the better to reclaime, or represse, the common professed Enimies of Christ, and to debarre them of their meanes of wronging Gods Glory.

7 That we beware of Giving our holy Light vnto Dogs, and casting the Pearles of the kingdome of heaven before Swine. That we open not the Doore to let filthy So­domites come in; but, like Angels of Light, strike such Vid. Sap. 19. 17.such Light-Angels with Blindnesse, & take away the Light of their Eies from thē, that they may not finde the Doore, nor the Way into the House. Seeing their comming is fot no other, but villanously to Abuse, & to deale vnnaturally with the House, the Lord of the House, and those within it that are the Lords. Seeing also that their saying, Haile Maister, yea and Kissing of Christ too, is but to Betray him, to catch him, strike him, and misvse him. And their Rabshaketh-like speaking the language of the people of God, is but to Raile and to Dishonour him.

8 That we Loue not that which God hateth, whether it be the world, or the things that are in the world: cherish not his Enimies in his presence: nor be Favourites & Abettours of Notorious Offenders, and Excommu­nicated persons. No: nor Grace them with the Light so much as of our Company, or Countenance. But, David▪ like, to be Companiōs of those that Feare the Lord: Vid. etiam Ps. 29.to let the Righteous resort vnto our Company: to let no vn­godly person Dwell, or Tary in our Houses; no, not so much as him that telleth Lyes: to hate them that hate the [Page 136] Lord, and to bee Grieved with those that rise vp against him; yea; to hate them right sore, as though they were our Enimies.

9 Lastly, That We must be zealous for our Heavenly Fa­thers Glory. Shewing that we are not Implicitè only, or in grosse, but indeed and Expresly in loue with GOD: by having the pulse of our Conscience Extraordinarilie Moved, with Ioy, whē we see God Glorified; or els with Disdaine, Sorrow, and Impatience, when we see His Name and Truth Blasphemed. Then it is our part to do as Craesus his sonne is said to haue done: who, having beene alwaies dumbe, yet spake suddainely, when hee saw his Father set vpon. Or rather, to imitate the Son of God himselfe: who otherwise being Isai 53. 7. dumb, and not opening his mouth, yet spake, and spake as no man ever spake, in the behalfe of his Fathers Glory; yea and was in an Extraordinary fashion Eaten vp with the zeale of his Fathers Psal. 69. v. 7, 8. Rom. 5. House.

How then is it, that wee are so Senselesse in the wrongs that to GOD are offered? why rather, whē we perceaue God to be so highly Dishonoured and Blas­phemed; among other things, by Hereticall Disparage­ment to his Sonnes Deitie: and more then Iewish Cruci­fying of him: why, I say, doe we not Start, and Startle, and Leape, though it be from one end of the Heaven to the other, to Ioyne with others in the hindering of the Wrongs offered to the Sonne of GOD? In so doing doe yee Glory still more and more, my Deerely Beloued: And you especially, the Highest among Christians, that are out of this Auditorie, and yet in The Parts of [Page 137] the Dayes Speech are, though not the Principall Verbs, yet the Principall Praepositions; doe you, I humbly Ex­hort you, put your Royall Assents to the Dayes: Acts of Parliamēt of Prayses of the Highest King, & Most Praise­worthy. That not only Iom le Iom, One Day vnto Ano­ther, but one [Le Roy le veult] vnto Annother, may Roy­ally Recount and Ecchoize His Glory. Whilest, like Zea­lous Ruling Lights (of as High Parentage, & of as An­cient Creation as the Heavens) like Ben-Iamins (Great Kings, & Vid. Ps. 68. 27.Little Sonnes of Gods Right Hand of Iealousie) like Zealous and Obedient Dayes, or The Arabi­an word for Day, here v­sed. Iamins (that are still a Telling and Enacting) & like Zealous Iohns and Iameses (that are still a Mark 3. 17.Thundring out of Working & of Loving) you make your selues still more and more the Fervent Interiections of the Dishonour of I AM. The Maintaining of whose Ho­nour is the Charge that is imposed on you. Decline it not, you most Princely Praepositions, but Incline your soules and hearts vnto it: That When Christ your Life Col. 3. 4. shall appeare, you may haue the Glory of Not being De­clined by him.

4 A fourth thing Enacted by the Heavens and their Lights, the Dayes and the Nights, is The Darkning of the Sun, The Moone not giving her Light, The Starres falling from Heaven, and The Powers of Heauen being shaken (Mat. 24. 29.) Which Shall be, but little before Christs comming and the end of the World. Where­of that such things must needes bee Prognosticating Signes, The later part of the aforesai [...] saying of Dio­nysius doth well testifie.

[Page 138] Here are Signes Extraordinarie of Declining Dayes. Darke Blindnesse in the Lightest, Falling Sicknes in the Firmest, and Shaking Palseies in the Powers of most Stedfastnes. All here, not The Dayes only, but the Lights of Heauen, and the Powers of Heaven, shall make appa­rant shew of their Decay; By Diverse Defects, Strange Appearances, vnvsuall Changes, and Manifold Infirmi­ties. Not by Eclipses onely, but by Vide de Sole Elliptico. Ecclus 17. 31. what is brigh­ter then the Sun [...] yet the Light there­of faileth. &, vid. Iob. 25. 5. Ellipses too; as though The Sunne it selfe were subiect also to Convul­sions. Convulsions! And what not? Where as shall bee so many Thousand Dayes and yeares to cause Contrac­tion in such an Olde Decrepite Age: which is it selfe a Sicknes of this world, causing the Fairest Creatures to Decay, & Decaying to keepe at length as it were with­in doores, to hide their heads, and not to shew them­selues abroad as they were wont: yea and to bee so te­dious to themselues, the rather because of Men Tristitia assi­ciuntur, dum vident nostra Delicta. Theo­doret. super Rom. 8.that will not mend Themselues, as that The very Rom. 8. v. 19 & 22. Creature Groneth too, Travaileth in paine, & hath an Earnest de­sire of Amendment, by the Worlds Dissolution, and so Expecteth waiting when the Sonnes of God shall be Revea­led. And How long doth it Expect and Wait? So long, as that it may well teach men Long Suffering and Pati­ence. [...]] from the beginning of the world, or from Mans Fall, vnto this present. This present? yea, & as long as any time shall bee: even vnto the Last Mo­ment (Moment of most Moment) when All these Things shall be dissolved. 2. Pet. 3. 11.

But now you Heavens, and you Lights of Heaven; you Light and Darknesse, you Telling Dayes and Certi­fying [Page] Nights, What is become of all your Stedfastnes and Constancie, which wee haue heretofore so much commended? Shall it be reported of you, that you fai­led in your Last Reports of all? And will you be so Defi­cient in the Last Act of all of All your Parliament? O, no. But then much more by your Defects, Changes, and Infirmities, will Gods Power be made Perfect. Which only is Everlasting: who is able to Diminish not only Mans, but Your abilitie, to abate Your strength, and to shor­ten Your Time, for all your Everlasting Permanencie: And, for all your Stedfastnesse; yet by your Mutabilitie, to declare, that he only is Immutable: By your Vnfaith­fulnesse, compared vnto Him, yea and by your Iob. 25. Impu­ritie in His Sight; to make it good, that he only is Good, and Faithfull, and Pure. Even as the Wisdome also of his Angels is, in respect of him, but a foile of Folly, to Mag­nifie His Wisdome.

So then you, Dayes, (and likewise, you, the rest) will not Then, in your Old Dayes, & Dayes of your Great­est Infirmities, after so many Successions, and when your Succeeding Impotencie shall exceed your Power that was his Predecessour; I say, you will not thē giue over Telling one another his Power, that exceeds all o­thers. You will then Tell] by your Waxing Old as doth a Heb. 1. Psal. 102. Isai. 34. Garment, how True hee is, that gaue his Word you should doe so. You will Pronounce His being still the Same, by your being, when you shall bee so Old, so Di­verse: His Extolling, by your Falling downe: His Endu­ring, by your Perishing: The Dilatation, the Explication, and Vnfolding of his Praise, by your being Folded vp, [Page 140] (Heb. 1. 12) & Rowled together. What shall I say, that you Will say? I know not how much you doe Now Tell. How then can I foretell, how much you will Thē Tell vnto Gods Glory? Only this I know, That you will Then Tell, and More then you doe Now, A Word vnto One another; A Word of God, that Endureth for Ever. And the Elder you wax, the more Talkitiue you will bee: & the more you decrease, the more will your Glorifying Speech increase. As reason is; your Knowledge and Expe­rience of Gods Glory ever more and more Increasing.

And here the Oldest Men of all may go to Schoole, to the Oldest Times and Dayes, and other of Gods Crea­tures, much elder then themselues: to Learne of them, how to behaue themselues towards God, in their Olde Age, and when that their strength faileth them. Not then to neglect, and resigne to younger men, the Ser­vice of Gods Glory. Not then to doe that, which they say Old mē may doe by Authority: But what they ought to doe by the Authority of the Booke of Gods Glory. Which requireth of them to cast away profane and olde Wiues Fables, and to Tell, as the Dayes doe, true See pag. 25. of the good vse of our English word [Tale] Tales of God Almighty; such as may be vnto others insteede of Commentaries and Expositions of Gods Great Goodnesse. Lingua cùm verum loqui caeperit, id est, Virtutem, Maie­statem (que) Dei singularis interpretari; tum demum officio naturae suae fungitur: saith Divin instit. lib. 4 cap. 26. Lactantius. Whē our Tongue vndertaketh to tell Truth, that is, to be an Interpreter of the Power and Maiesty of so Singular a God, Then, & ne­uer but then, doth it discharge his Naturall Functiō. You therefore that be Old, & haue had for a long time Ex­perience [Page 141] of Gods Power and Goodnesse, and haue heard longer then others, what One Day hath said thereof vn­to another: Be you Examples of Truth vnto others, of setting forth Gods prayses, and of Interpreting his Glory: & that so much the more, the weaker that you grow: That Gods Power may haue his Perfect Praise, by making you so Strong in Praising him by your Goodnes, when you are weake, and haue one legge already in the graue, yea and in your Sicknesse, and your Death. Then thinke too of your Crowne & your Reward, how neere you are vnto it: how neere vnto the goale of Glory, & to the end of your race: and, that therefore yee ought not by any meanes to slacke your pace, but to hasten it: making it appeare vnto Gods Glory, that it hath beene no forced Motion in you, vnto Godlynesse & Glo­ryfying Gods Name, but a Naturall; Swifter in the End, then it was in the Beginning.

A fifth, and necessarily the laste thing Enacted; 5 is the Laste Day, and End of the world: when the Power of God, that Made the world, shall bee Demonstrated as it were à Posteriore: by the Dissolution and Destruction of Dissolution of this Parli­ament. the world, by the laste Day, the End of Time, & Determi­nation of all Termes and Termers. When the Hoste of Heaven shall be Dissolved: (Isai. 34,) When Gods Alpha shall returne to his Omega, & Dayes Temporall shall Cō ­mend his Praise to Day Eternall. When his most wonder­full Power and Glory shall be seene in and by the Sonne of God himselfe, Destroying the vngodly, and preserving His, that is, the Godly, in the middest of that Vniversall Conflagration, and receiving them to Glory: (prefigu­red [Page 142] happily by the preservation of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the middest of the Extraordinarily Hcated Burning Fiery Furnace, and afterwards promo­ting them, whilest their Enemies were consumed, by One like vnto the Sonne of God, Dan. 3.) When the Hea­ven, the Vesture of Gods Glory, shall be Folded vp, & Chan­ged for a New. When the Heavenly Scrole, or Book, out of which Gods glory is now taught vs, shall be rouled to­gether (Isai. 34.) and the whole Army of the Leaues ther­of shall be looser then Sibyllas Leaues, or the Leaues of This Booke: yea, shall fall downe as the Leaues of a Trce, & as a Falling Figge from the Figge tree, (Isai. 34.) Lastlie; when This Booke of the world shall be Cancelled & Burnt, and Men shall go no more to Schoole (to It, the Law, or else the Gospell) to learne such Knowledge of Gods Glory, as now they haue: but shal Themselues, not their Bookes, be Translated, those that haue beene Good Scholers Here, from Discoursing and Discursiue Know­ledge of Gods Glory, to Angel-like Intuitiue Knowledge, and Ever Blessed Beholding of Him and of his Glory, to whom we are so much Beholding: especially for That Knowledge and Beholding of Him, and of his glory, That Gods Glory, by the Mi­raculous Speech of the Lowest, most Indo­cible, and most Sensles Creatures.is Blessed for Ever. Amen.

And now, Beloved in GODS best Beloved, if we shal but draw the curtaine, The very speach of more Infe­riour and Base Speachlesse Creatures will come into the Reckoning of Recounting Gods Glory. As when God o­pened the mouth of Balaams Asse, (Num. 22.) and made a Dumbe Vnreasonable Creature to speake Reason: to Reproue therby the Madnesse of the Prophet (2. Pet. 2. 16.) [Page 143] yea and of Vs all; who either speake not at all, or else speake so out of Reason, as though we had changed Dif­ferences with an Asse: who speake so much, and many yeeres together, and yet speake so little according to Gods word, and of his praise. When as the Asse spake ne­ther often, nor yet much: and yet all he spake was ac­cording to That Word, & to That praise; wherof Man cannot Speake too much, nor yet too often. And if we would speake of Other Kind of Speach we might finde Another Asse assumed to the Totall Summing vp of Gods prayses: even that Christopher, or Christ-Bea­ring Asse; that was Prophecied of, that Christ should ride vpon him, & was farther Dignified with His Ri­ding on him.

And so, leaving these, let vs proceede to things more Senselesse. For (according to the saying of our Luke 19Saviour) If these should hold their peace, the Vid. Hab. 2. 11. Stones would Cry. Would Cry, and from their Low Estate Crie out Lowd, in the Commendation of the Power of God, that made them, and in the Proclaiming of His Christ vnto the World. He that is Able of Stones to raise vp Children vnto Mat 3. 9. Gods Glory, by Speech Miracu­lously Figu­ratiue. Where, of The VAILE OF GODS GLORY: & the Rheto­ricall Fi­gures, Flowers and Co­lours there­of. Abraham: no marveile, though he be able to raise vp Praise vnto Himselfe, out of Such Childrens Mouthes.

I will not here speake of Stones Applauding Vene­rable Bede in his Preaching; or such like: But wil speake of Speech more warrantable.

When Christ was Crucified, the Vaile of the Temple was Rent in twaine▪ from the top to the bottome: the Rocks also did Rent. Here are Rents of Gods Power, here Reve­newes [Page 144] of His Glory; proceeding out of Rēted Mouths, or, as it were, out of Cloven Tongues. Tongues and Mouths of Things Rented, that were most vnlikely e­ver to Rent of themselues: the one for Finenesse and Softnesse, the other because of Strength and Hard­nesse. So the one sending forth, out of His Rent, as it were a Fine & Soft voice of Gods Glory, the other a Strōg and Hard voice: both of them Heard farre and neere, by One Dayes spreading the Report thereof vnto ano­ther; both of them fit matter for the Building of GODS Glory, even in the Strongest Wall-worke thereof, His Strength of Our Redemption. Of which, neither of them both is without signification.

The Renting of the Vaile (to allow some space for the casting vp of the Audit of so Long and Large a Rent-Roule) is it not the voice as it were of a Cryer, Pre­paring the way of the Lord into Heaven, proclaiming the lifting vp of the Everlasting Doores and Gates, that the Psal. 24. King of Glory may come in, & pronoūcing the Opening of the way into the Holyest of Heb. 9. 8. all? Yea, & the opening of it vnto vs too? Our entring into that within the vaile, whither Iesus the Forerunner is for vs entred in Heb. 6. 19, 20.? And, that by the Bloud of Iesus we may bee bold to enter into the Holy place, by the New and Living way, which hee hath prepared for vs, through the Vaile, that is, His Flesh Heb. 10. 20? The Vaile] that for vs is most availeable. The Vaile] where­by the Vaile that lay over our hearts is takē away 2. Cor. 3., so that we may now see the Light of Gods Glory shining in our Hearts. The Vaile] so Rent from the Top to the Bot­tome, that we need not feare the comming of it toge­ther [Page 145] againe, or that it shall haue need of any more Rē ­ting. The Vaile, that is, His Flesh.] His Flesh, who had sometimes Stretched out the Heavens, is now so Expā ­ded and Retched, for vs that were so wretched, on the Crosse, that all his Bones are to be told Psal. 22.: & t'was strange that None of them was broken. For else what whole part was there in his Flesh Psal. 38. 7., from the Crowne of his Head to the Sole of his Foot? The Top wherof had Thornes for to Teare it, and Blowes of a Reede to Breake it. His Face, had Filthy Spittle, Boxes and Buffets to Disfigure it. His Body, Bonds to Bruise it, in girthing it to the Piller, worse then is the Pillerie: yea and it had Lashes to make Gashes in it. His Hands and Feet, had Nayles, to Bruise them and to Pearce them. His Inward parts, Gall and Vineger, Despitefull words, Griefe and Anguish, yea and Death it selfe, to Dissolue this Rocke, & to Rent the Body of this Vaile asunder from the Soule. The Renting whereof is our Anagrammatized Entring in­to Heaven: As is also the Renting of this Rocke, in the Clefts Vid Isai. 2. 21. & 33. 16.whereof is our Refuge.

The Blew 2. Chr. 3. 14.of this Glorious Vaile of Gods Glory, was, besides the seeming Colour of the Heavens, (which he passing through hath opened vnto vs) His Hard Ty­ing, Scourging, Beating, and Buffetting, His Paines and Colour of His Death. The Purple, and the Crimson, were His Robe, & Royall Bloud, that Heb. 12. 24. vid. Heb. 11. 4, Speaketh better things thē the bloud of Abel. O Blessed Better Things! O Blessed Better Colours of this Speech of this His Bloud! Whose very Rhetoricke is true Divinitie. Goe, Aristotle, goe with all thy Rhetoricke, and take Victorius Who haue Notably well commented on Aristotles Rhetoricks.and Who haue Notably well commented on Aristotles Rhetoricks. Maio­ragius [Page 146] to helpe thee yet, for the victory, thou availest nothing, in comparison: thy Colours are all Vile, and vaile bonnet, vnto the Colours of This Vaile. For so, my thinks, t'is sweet to licke but the See, the Re­maines of a Greater worke, p. 27. out of Giral­dus Cambrē ­sis. Letter of This Vaile. This Vaile, which Speaketh Things as Sweete as Heaven. O let vs heare (for here Iuvat vs (que) morari, t'is good and sweet Abiding Vid. Mat. 17, 4.) some more of the Nazaren Flowers, Flourishes, and Figures, of This Vailes Elocution. His Woven Seamelesse Coate, yea His Righteousnes, that had the True Contexture of All Faithfull Vertues with­out Sowtering, was the Fine Linnen of This Vaile. His Being praysed by his Brethren, His Fathers Children Bow­ing Downe before him: (Gen. 49. 8.) Every knee Bowing at the Name of Iesus, both of things in Heaven & things in Earth &c. and therefore The Angels also Glorifying him, and God in him; The Angels Ministring vnto him, All the Angels of God worshipping him: (Heb. 1. 6.) An­gels, Authorities, and Powers being made Subiect vnto him (1. Pet. 3. 22.) The Cherubims yeelding vp and re­signing vnto him their Flaming Sword of Lordly Ma­ioraltie, which turned every way, and with which they kept the Way of the Tree of Life: His Vid Aliba­mer. Sylu. in verbo Cheru­bim.being our Propitiato­ry, vnto and into whose Graciousnesse both Testaments, The Law and The Gospell, our Faire Faced Bookes, doe cast their Lookes: His being Immanuel: His Luk. 2. 10, 11, 16. Lordship ioy­ned to his Luk. 2. 10, 11, 16. Babeship, His Omnisciencie to his Isai. 9. 6. vn. to vs a Child is Borne. Child­hood; His Saviourship to his Babeship, And his Child­hood; His Sonneship to his Childhood, yea and his High Titles (Isai. 9. 6, 7. & Heb. 1.) to his Sonneship, And his Childhood: His Glorious Godhead inseparably vnited to his [Page 147] Manhood: His Manhood, by and with his Godhead, Glori­fied: His Mat. 18. 3. Childefied Babefied 1. Cor. 14. 20 Brethren Heb. 2. 11. 12, and Ioh 3. 3. & inde. Regene­rate Children Heb. 2. 13 14: His Faithfull Souldiers being made par­takers of the Spoile of his Vestiments, his Assumed Humanitie, Revelation of his Mysteries, Aeternall Loue to­ward them, Vnderstanding of the Old & New Testament, The Good things of this Life & the Life to come, The Guifts that in & by his Ascending he gaue vnto Men: In a word, The Clothing of His Righteousnesse, and Everlasting Glo­ry Heb. 2. 10.:

All these, are they not the Golden Glorious Cheru­bims Interior Ho­mo Domus Ora­tionis est, imò Speculationis Divinae, vbi per Fidem illam Claritatem in­effabilem cen­templamur, & sunt Cherubin scientiarū Dei. Sim. de Cas. in Evang lib. 13. fol. 1. Nomen [Cherub] aliqui interpretantur per Scientiae Multitudinem &c. Doctores Hebraei, in ver­bo Cherubim, putarunt litte­ram [...] deservi­re, & à [...] Ra­b [...]a, quod puellū significat, de­du [...]erunt: expo­nentes, Sicut puer. Has sequitur, inter alios, Lebeus; qui vu [...]t Cherubim referre figuram puerorum, qui sunt plena & Florida sacie. Alii Cherub, vniversale nomen faciunt ad omnem Figuram five Imaginem cu­ins (que) Faciei, quae▪ expansis alis tanquam avis volans effingitur.(Heb. 9. 5.) Wrought like Children 2. Chr. 3. 10. iuxta Pagnini, & Genev. Translat. & Derivat [...]onem, quam afferunt Doctores Hebraei, vt supra. Cui etiam convenire videntur, quae de puerilitate proximè sunt dicta, & vulgaris Cherubin, Descriptio., or, with Mens Vid. 2. Chr. 3. Exod 25. 20▪ & Annot. Tremel. sup Exod. 25. v. 18. Ea qu [...] sunt in Lege, representant quidem Humanam effigiem. Pagnin. i [...] Thesaur. Faces, and Apparelled Vestitos pingimus ex Lege, Exod 20, 26. Iun.; with whose Ascending paral­lelled Vid. 2. Chr. 3 & Exod. 25. Wings and Lookes, the Swift Fame of Gods Glory is best Seene to be lifted vp to Heavē, where the Head of that Fame resideth: and out of whose Mouthes and Faces God hath ordained a perfect Body of his Praise, by so Perfectly and Superexcellently Fitting of One Bodie (Heb. 10. 5.)?

So that it was no marveile, though Miraculous, that the Earth too, our Olde Mother, were great with child with GODS Praises, &, like vnto Elizabeth (Luk. 1) had a Babe too within her that leaped in her wombe for ioy and wonderment, at the sound of the voice of the Lord [Page 148] of Glory being Crucified, and Risen, and so sent forth a voice of Exultation from the Lowest, for the Exaltati­on of the Highest. Here She, for all her Heavinesse and Immobility, could not but be moued to make her Sub­missiue and Subterrene Obeisance at the Name of Iesus, and to Omnipotencie. Stand still Shee could not, but daūce she must as it were a Quavering Pavin, & send forth a Quaking Vid. Heb. 12 26.Shaking voice, of GODS Praises, for so high an Exaltation of any, yea and many of Her Bodies, and her Children: as, frō Terrestrial, to become Coelestiall. Yea She could not here choose but be Deli­vered of Babes out of her wombe, before her Ordinary Time. Babes that Dyed not, but being Dead did Liue a­gaine, by this Abortion, or vntimely Birth. Babes Borne with GODS Prayses in their mouthes, and wearing the Liveries of His Glory on their backs. Babes of Excellent Deliverie, in the Praysing of a Now Raysed Raysing vp Deliverer. For The Graues, or Monuments ( [...]) were opened, and Many Bodies of Saints which slept, Arose, And came out of the Graues, or Sepulchres, after His Resurrec­tion, and went into the Holy City, and Appeared vnto Ma­ny. Here (that as well The Wonders of the Deepe, as the Height of the Third Heavens, may conclamitate with S. Paule (Rom. 11. 33.) O the Depth &c. and that we with all Saints may the better comprehend that Incomprehensi­ble Depth and Height, Ephes. 3. 18. 19.) The Earth also hath Her Quire of Base and Treble voices, Consorting with others, vnder Ground, and Her Sepulchres Church for the Service of GODS Glory. Here are Graue voices too: here Words of Gravitie. The Graues and Sepulchres, [Page 149] the Moniments and Memorials of GODS Prayses, open their Mouthes. And what comes out of them? Not Words of Men, but Men of Words, Men Words, Men in­steed of Words. Words as Substātiall as Bodies, as Weigh­tie as Dead Bodies, and as Liuely as Twise Living Bo­dies.

Now if Speech, or Words of Creatures, in their kind be so Substantiall, so Weightie, and so Liuely: in so much that the Speech of Men-Creatures is not onely called their Glory aboue other Creatures (as aboue ye heard) but is also called by the name of [...], their Reason, their very Forme, their Substantiall and Glorious diffe­rence from other Creatures: What then may wee thinke of the Chiefest Speech or Word of the Creatour himselfe, after whose Image Man was created? How truely Substantiall, Consubstantiall with God, and of the very Nature of the Deitie, How Weightie and Powerfull, how Liuely must he needes be, and Life it selfe?

And so, from speaking of Speech, and Speech Extra­ordinarie and Miracalous, I descend to some wordes touching [A Word] here in my Text: and draw neerer and neerer to the last spoken of Word, giuing you still warning by the way, of his approaching.

One Day telleth a Word vnto another.] But a VVord. 2 T'is but a Verball Praedication of GODS Glory. Nay & (if you remember the Prosopopoeia in the Manner of their Speech) t'is but as it were Tanquam verbum, tan­quam scientiam &c. saith S. Austin, as p. 41.a Verball Predicatiō, of GODS Glory. So farre is the Day frō any Reall Glo­rifying of GOD. Yea and so far are we of from giuing any Glory vnto GOD, saue in Words only.

[Page 150] Where we see the Goodnes of GOD towardes vs his creatures, so farre excelling aboue all thanksgiuing and praise, as Deeds are still better then Words; nay, as all his noble Acts surpasse our Quid retribuam Domino, our wordy more then worthy Retributions. Ipse quā ­do nos glorificat, (saith S. Austin In Psal. 39. & see, p. 108. where Atha­nasius is al­leaged vpon Ephes. 1. 6.) facit nos gloriosiores, facit nos honoratiores: quando eum glorificamus, nobis prodest, non illi. Quomodo enim eum glorificamus? glorio­sum dicendo, non faciendo. When God Glorifieth vs, he maketh vs more Glorious, he maketh vs more honourable: But when we Glorifie him, it maketh nothing for him, but for our selues. For how doe we Glorifie him? Only by saying, that he is Glorious; by calling, but not by making of him so.

O then, Beloved, if it bee but Wordes, they cost vs nothing: why spare we them in glorifying the Lord, & are no more sparefull of them in dishonouring of him, in profaning, yea and blaspheming of his Holy Name? T'is but Words for Deeds. But Words. And were all our words so as they should bee rectified and directed to GODS Glory, they would make but One Word in the whole volume thereof. Yet see, as if wee had still liued in Cimmerian darknesse, where never any Day might haue informed vs: we are so vnthankfull vn­to GOD, that scant & scarce cā we afford him Words for Deeds: Words of Glory, for all the Glory given by his Word vnto his Creatures.

And here those Papists, who wil not ioyne with vs in serving of God, in praising and glorifying his holy Name; not so much, some of them, as in saying Amen vnto our Graces, (as the Relation of Religion at large [Page 151] discourseth) are very grosly reprehensible. The Days however otherwise it differeth from the Night, yet gladly ioyneth with it in the Relation of GODS Glory; never ceasing, so as it may, to play the Daily Orator in this behalfe. Then let the Papists liken themselues vnto the Day: shall they, because of the dissentings be­tweene them and vs, therefore fall out with GOD too, and barre him of his Glory? What though wee were Hereticks, nay though we were beasts; ought they not therefore to accord with vs in the recording of GODS Glory? For GOD sendeth vs many times vnto the Dumbe Creatures, to ioyne with them herein, yea and to be enioyned a Lesson by them herein. For this is such a Generall dutie, so generally by all things in their kind to be obserued, that it ought not for any cause, for any person, time, place, or other respect whatsoever to be deserted. They must maintaine the Predicating of GODS Glory de omni, per se, & quatenus ipsum; or else they will proue erroneous, if not hereti­call Demonstrators of Gods Glory. To praise and Glorify GOD in Words (for in Workes they say they goe be­fore vs) is the End too wherefore they were created: t'is their Glory too, their Beautie, & Perfection. If they will forsake all these for our sakes, they will doe some­what for their owne.

One Day telleth a Word vnto another] But One Word. 3 [...] [Omer] a Word without a Plurall number Avenar. Lexic..

But One Word; in respect of All GODS Glory.

But One Word; in respect of that Word, which laste of all we shall speake of.

[Page 152] One Word, is but little in respect of all the Know­ledge in the World. But much lesse is this Word of Gods Glory, (so as by the Dayes it is declared) and this Motto much lesse then one atome to the whole motey world of Democritus; if it be cōpared to the Infinite Worlds of Glory belonging to the Creatour of this World. So that, though many be the words which the Dayes vt­ter touching Gods Glory, their words of this matter still ishuing and gushing forth like water out of a never dryed fountaine: (according to that which hath beene delivered in the expounding of the word [...] here in my Text) yet are they all but One Word, in respect of the whole Subiect of their Speech.

O then, Beloued, if wee should spend all our time in speaking of, and to GODS Glory: yet how little world Our words be in respect of that immense Matter, of & to the which we should still speake! For Our Dayes are but a spanne long. They are gon like a shadow, and passe away like smoake, Psa. 102. The Dayes will last, whē all Our Dayes are past: they will line, when we are dead and gone.

And why then, Good GOD, hast thou made Man, that he of all others, he rather then the Day, should be the Speaker in the Parliament of thy Praises? Hee in Words to Glorifie thy Name, not onely for himselfe, but for all other Creatures too? tanquam nomine alia­rum creaturarum omnium, pro tot tantis (que) beneficiis &c. as Zanchius De Operibus Dei, part. 3. l. 2, cap. 1.speaketh (and Epictetus Arrian E. pictet. lib. 1. cap. 17.hath the like) in the name as it were of all other Creatures. What? and of the Day too, which it selfe, after his Manner, speaketh [Page 153] so much in thy praise? And must it not needs then be no more then One word of thy Praise and Glory, & of our Thankesgiving vnto thee for all thy Benefits, which any of vs all can vtter all our life long, in respect of thy Glorious Name, how it excelleth aboue all Thankes­giving and Praise? Nehem. 9. 5.

One Day telleth a Word vnto another. A Word, and all­waies of GODS Glory. The Subiect every Day, and to every Day, the same continually. Yet never is any Day wearie of this every Dayes Subiect; so shewing how the Glory of God is no more tedious for a continuall Subiect in this world, then it will be for an everlasting Obiect in the world to come.

Then iudge you, Beloued, whether they bee not worthy of Reprehension; who thinke it too much, to haue the Gloria Patri &c. so much repeated, and would allow it but one place for many: as my selfe haue seen in too many places of this Land; where, neg­lecting the Order prescribed by the Church & by our Service Booke, of concluding every Psalme with the Gloria Patri, &c. they, and they too some of them who otherwise would seeme to be formall enough, make hast to skipp over the often mention of that Glory, for which they were created, and vnto which they owe their chiefest service.

They that thus find fault with the so oftē together inculcating of Gods Glory, why finde they not the like fault with the Seraphims? Who in the sixth of Isay, ver. 2. 3. (burning with the loue of Gods Glory otherwise thē these fault-finders doe) One cryed vnto another, & said, [Page 154] Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hostes: the whole world is full of his Glory. Why correct they not our Saviours Eli, E­li, vpō the crosse? Or his praying the Third time, saying the Same Words? Mat. 26. 44. Why blame they not the Prophet David, for that he would haue all those that loue the salvation of the Lord, to lay alway, the Lord bee praised? Psal. 40. 19. And for that same in one selfesame Psalme Foure times reiterated, (Psal. 107.) O that men would therfore praise the Lord for his goodnesse, & declare the wonders that he doth for the childrē of men? And that, as often in the same Psalme, So whē they cryed vnto the Lord in their trouble, he delivered thē out of their distress? And that Thrice in one Psalme (Psal. 115.) He is their helper and defender? And that, (Psal. 116.) I will call vpon the name of the Lord? And that, (Ps. 118) In the name of the Lord will I destroy them? As also, for that so often together repeated (Psalm. 118. and, 136.) His mercy endureth for ever? Lastly, why blame they not the Prophet David, for here avouching, that One Day still telleth (the Glory of God) vnto another? Nay, and the Dayes themselues too, for so doing? For telling a word, But a word, and But one word of Gods Glory? Alwaies of GODS Glory, and yet alwaies telling that, & besides that doing nothing. For Every Day vnto another vttereth the Same. The Same. what's that same? The Glory of God.

Nor every Day only insisteth only on this golden Matter, but every Houre of the Day too, yea and every Moment of an Houre (according also to that Explica­tion given in my first Sermō) still dwelleth on this one Glorious Subiect, vncessantly vrging the never cea­sing [Page 155] Glory of the Highest.

Some man will say; he disliketh not the often repe­tition of the Gloria Patri, &c: quatenus, for, or in that it is the often mention of Gods Glory. But, [...], Arist. Physic. lib. 3. contex. 51 He may not so be gone. For, quatenus, even in and for that it is the often mentioning of Gods Glory, therefore he ought not at all to dislike it. T'is (as you haue heard) the End wherevnto man is ordei­ned, to shew forth GODS Glory both in word and deed: t'is all his Vertue and Perfection. He therefore that shall mislike the continuall doing thereof ether way, doth as if he should picke a quarrell with a Rose, be­cause it never smelleth but As Aul. Gelli­us (lib. 19 cap. 2,) citeth out of Aristotle. sweet: or with himselfe, for being alwaies Reasonable; and happily that maketh him in this thing so vnreasonable. for t'is a shame, Be­loved, that such Professours of the Service of GOD, as we would seeme to be, should yet come short of gi­ving that Glory vnto GOD, which even the whole world sticketh not to doe: part-Christians, (as they are reckoned) Turkes, and Infidels, and all. Not any Tract in Arabian, which is not begun with the name of God, and of the Mercifull God, prefixed to it. In the End of the Lords Prayer, though the Glory of GOD be there immediatly before mentioned, (as yee knowe in the Conclusiō) yet there is annexed also to this sense: Honour and Praise and Glory, and Vertue and Power & Iu­stice to God the only King everlasting, for evermore. In the beginning even of the Alcoran it selfe are put those three letters, Eliph, Lem, & Mim: which they call the Seale of the Booke, and by which (as they say) are [Page 156] Quod enim se­mel fecisse bonū est, non potest malum esse, si frequentèr fiat▪ &c. Hieronym. Epistola vltima. Si enim semel facere optimum est; quanto ma­gis saepius▪ Si ho­ra prima; go & tota die. Lacta [...] ­tius, lib. 4. c. 28. meant the Name, the Maiestie, and high Commaunde of God. It being a thing even by the Law of Nature written in mens hearts, and vnto which the whole world is driven, by words to magnifie GODS name, & by a verball predication to declare his Glory. And doth it not then concerne vs more neere, now that the Glo­ry of God is every Day more and more made manifest, to Seale vp every Psalme, yea (if it were possible) every word, every worke, every thought, every imagination of ours, with some specification, or else some intima­tion or other of that Great Glory?

T'was not the often repetition, Beloved, that made the First dislikers of the Gloria Patri, &c: not to favour it. No. the Arrians stucke at it, because they stucke at Christs Divinity. So did the Sabellians, because they cōfoūded the Three Persons. Wherfore the Church then wisely brought in the Gloria Patri, &c: as to try who were such Heretikes, so especially for the maine­taining of Gods Glory against them. Yea but the Cause why it was so ordained is now ceased. And how is that true? Arrianisme as yet remaining among the Turks, according to the first sowing therof among them by Sergius Monachus, who was an Arrian. Or say that this were not so: yet the Cause of retaining it, being so ordained, is not none at all. We know not all the Divels craft: his purpose may be againe to induce, and then to maintaine old heresies. As at this day we see Arrianisme about to creepe into the Christiā world againe, and now and then to peepe vp his head. And t'is not good for vs to bee vnprovided of our former [Page 157] furniture; and because we haue no warre, to fling away our weapons.

Againe; another reason, of not relinquishing or disvsing this most excellent Epiphoneme; is, that which now we haue in hand: even the oftner repeti­tion and more frequent commemoration of the Glo­ry of God, the Father the Sonne and the Holy Gbost; A reason sufficient, if it had beene even of the first ordei­ning of it.

And so drawing neerer to my Text, & to you too, Beloued: Beloued, I beseech you, that you would bee very frequent in giuing Glory vnto God by your words and communication; and to bee so farre from thinking it tedious and tiresome vnto you, to bee al­waies cōversant in this one Subiect: as that you would esteeme it the chiefe Glory of your Speech, to haue it seasoned Col. 4. 6.with the often mention of Gods Glory: thin­king your lippes so much the happier, the oftner his Praise, the praise of his Glory, passeth through them: Hor. de Art. Poetic. Haec placuit semel, haec decies repetita placebit.

For how else may you be thought loath to bee al­waies conversant in setting forth Gods Glory by your good Conversation! (to which also wee are all boun­den, and of which wee spake before) to whom it shall be so tedious to be tyed, but in words only, to so Glo­rious a Subiect; About which we should bee alwaies turning and returning, tanquam rota Sim. de Cassia lib. 4. c. 1. versa & reversa sempèr circa idem centrum, like a wheele about the same point or centre continually: yea and which ought to bee vnto vs as a charmed circle, where all our spirits for [Page 158] ever should be enchanted. So should wee bee reputed worthy instruments of Gods Glory: plectratum semper instrumentum Simon. de Cass. ibid.&c: and like an instrument alwaies rea­dy strung, obediently to sound forth and to resound what song our master requireth, the song of his own The word of God twofold Praise and Glory, though he demand it never so often.

One Day telleth a word vnto another.] The word of God: and so the Glory of GOD too.

The Word of GOD is either De hoc dupli­ci verbo, vid. Damascen. de Ortb. fid. lib. 2. cap. 21. & alios. [...], or [...]: Mentall, or Enuntiatiue. This word of God, is The revea­led will of God As Damas­cen defineth the word of God. Each rela­ted by the Dayes.:That the Inmost word, the Qui dicit De­um mentem, di­eit eius pruden­tiam. Theophil. Antioch. lib. 1. ad Autolyc. c. 1.Minde, or Essentiall will of God. This, Verbum Ita etiam Ire­neus (l. 4. c. 3.) Moysilitere, in quit, verba sunt Christi. & paulo pòst: Moysi, & reliquorum sine dubio propheta­rum sermoncs ipsius sunt. Christi; That, ver­bum Christus, as S. Austin In Ps. 118.speaketh. Either of these words is by One Day told vnto another.

1 For the first, it is manifest: first, out of that Ps. 119. Lamed. v. 1. O Lord, thy Word endureth for ever in heaven. Then; Revelatio fit non solùm per doctrinam, sedetiam per opera Vid P. Lomb. sup. Rom. 1.: The wil of God is revealed not only by Doctrine, but by the workes of God too. According to that in the 19 ^th, and 20 ^th Verses of the first to the Romanes: And that in the 17 ^th and 18 ^th Verses of the tenth to the Romanes; where the Apostle saith, Hearing is by the Word of God. But I demand, haue they not heard? No doubt their sound went out through all the Earth, & their words into the endes of the World; alleaging the 4 ^th Verse of this Psalme.

Where wee may note, how the Apostle proueth The Hearing of the Word of God, by The Hearing of their words: as if their Words were the Word of God. Their words, that is, The Dayes Words too, among the rest: which [Page 159] necessarily, and most naturally, must be meant by that place in this Psalme.

How they had any Word of God, which they might be said to heare, who happily were not within hea­ring of the Prophets or Apostles, S. Chrysostome tea­cheth vs: as in the already alleaged places out of him in my second Sermō, so also at large on the first chap­ter to the Romanes; where hee saith, [...]; &c: Did God send downe a voice from heaven vnto them? No. (saith he) But that which might prevaile more with them, then such a voice, that did he; hee set forth his Crea­tures and displaied them openly to the view of all; that they by their sight vnderstanding the sightlinesse of things vi­sible, might so mount vp to the invisible God. And againe, in that which next shall bee alleaged out of S. Chryso­stome. As also Athanasius (in the Fragments of him) saith: [...]. And afterwards, [...] Sc. [...]. [...]. Haue those workes & creatures of God, which are mute & dumb, yet no voice or speech at all? Yes, (saith he) their admirable feature is a kind of talking of theirs, and their beautie and Eutaxie, or goodly Order, is as it were a sound or voice of theirs.

Hence arise two Observations. One touching our 1 selues, the other concerning the Heathen. For our selues: by this Word of God reported by the Dayes, wee may note how negligent wee are, or else how igno­rant of the Whole Word, the whole Revealed word of God (The things revealed belonging to vs, and to our chil­dren [Page 160] for ever. Deut. 29. 29.) for, as if there were no Word of God, but only writtē in paper: so passe we over light­ly Opera Dei nō intuentur, & o­pera manum e­ius non conside­rant. Isai. 5. 12.what ever of Gods word is written, imprinted, stamped, and engraven in his workes. Whereas this also ought highly to be esteemed and regarded by vs. Especially, whereas the Booke of the Scripture is the renewing Vid. Bonavē tur [...]tom. 1. p. 44 & 54. & Eras. in Paracles. pr [...] ­fix. operibus A­thanasii. & The­odoret. de proui­dentia. Sermon. 6. paulò à prin­cipio. Eccles. 3. 11., repairing, and restoring of the Booke of the World; like vnto the renewing of the two Tables of the Testimony, (Exod. 34) after that the first were bro­ken. And t'is no good part in a Scholer, as soone as he hath a new Booke, straight waies to fling away the Old: especially hee hauing not yet throughly learned the old. For GOD hath, indeed, set the World in their hart, yet cannot man findout the works that GOD hath wrought frō the beginning even to the end. Which one S. Frauncis Bacon, in his booke of the Advancemēt▪ of Learning, pag. 4. 6.of late, though no Divine, yet divinely hath interpreted of the Supreame and Summary law of Nature. And when wee haue done all that we can to finde out Gods Glory by his Workes: we may still say with Iob Iob. 26. 14.; Lo, these are part of his waies: but how little a portion heare we of him? And, as t'is in Ecclesiasticus, (cap. 43. v. 30, 31, 32) There are hid yet greater things then these be, and we haue seene but a few of his workes.

2 The other Observation concerneth the Heathen; How inexcusable this Word of God reported by the Dayes maketh them. An Observation drawne by S. Chrysostome out of my Text, and the Texts about it: as appeareth by his exposition on the twentith verse of the first to the Romanes: where, hauing alleaged the first part of the first verse of this Psalme, he saith: [...] [Page 161] [...]; &c. What will the Heathen say at that Day? can they say, O God, we knewe thee not? wee heard not of thee? No did? (saith he) never heard yee the Heavens speaking vnto you by their sightlinesse, and the excellently composed harmonie of all things soūding shril­ler then any trumpet? never saw you the manner of the Day and of the Night, how still they continue on their course? &c. Athanasius also Ad inscripti­onem Psal. 18. in Fragment▪ & [...]periu [...]; p. 83. [...] &c., vpon the Title of this Psalme, saith: [...]; What saith he to the Heathen? &c. to the Heathen. For, because t'is the Worde of God too, which One Day reporteth vnto another, and yet for all that they haue not beleeued The Dayes Re­port: therefore are they altogether without excuse, for not Beleeuing when they heard the word of God.

O but if wee had heard That Word of God which you haue heard, the Revealed Written word of God, then we might haue beleeued. O, no, it is not likely: GOD at all times and in all ages providing for all men the fit­test meanes▪ in respect of themselues & of their times, to bring them vnto GOD because he would haue all men saued. Therefore as t'was said of the Iewes As Lyra there inter­preteth it sed vide I [...]en [...]u [...]. lib. 4. cap. 3. vbi dict [...] interpre­tatu [...], de his om­nibu [...] qui adhuc erāt in vi [...]a.,(Luk. 16. 31.) If they heare not And Christ saith. ( [...] h. 5. 47) If ye be­leeue not Mo [...]es wri­ting [...] ▪ how s [...]a [...] ye be­leeue my word [...]? Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be perswaded, though one rise from the d [...]ad a gaine And Christ saith. ( [...] h. 5. 47) If ye be­leeue not Mo [...]es wri­ting [...] ▪ how s [...]a [...] ye be­leeue my word [...]?. So may we say of the Heathē; If they would not heare the workes of God, if not the Report that the Dayes, and other of Gods Creatures, gaue forth touching Gods Glory: neither would they haue beene perswaded, if they [Page 162] should haue had & heard Moses and the Prophets. That which was made manifest in many of thē, who que­stionlesse had beene made acquinted with the Books of Moses, and yet continued still in their Infidelitie.

Then how much more inexcusable are the Athe­ists The like hath Athanasius of the Iewes, in respect of the Gentiles of forme [...] times: Dudum▪ n. Iude­orum populus amplioris doc­trinae gratia re­ficiebatur: quip­pe qui non solū ex creaturae o­peribus, verúm & ex divinis literis Dei sci­e [...]ti [...]m haurie­bat. Athanas. contra Gentil. lib. 1. fol. 218. C. circa initium.and Infidels of these later times? who haue heard The Report that one Day maketh to another of The will of God Revealed not only by his Workes, but per doctrinā & per inspirationem, by Doctrine and hy Inspiration too. For the whole Scripture is giuen by Inspiration of God, and is profitable to Teach &c. 2. Tim. 3. 16. Which whole Scripture they haue had long ere this, by One Dayes Re­port vnto another, promulgated and proclaimed vnto them. And so haue they had Another word to teach thē too; another Word of God; another Word which One Day telleth to another. Nor only haue they had the Doctrine of Moses and the Prophets to instruct them, but of the Apostles too: nor of those only, but of him that taught them too, even of Christ himselfe: and therefore as yet of Another word of God too; another Word which One Day telleth to another. Another? Yea, and anothergates Word of God is this, of which wee are now to speake in the next place: being now as it were carried backe a­gaine into the maine Sea of GODS Glory; The Dayes here in my Text seeming to smile out a certaine wil­lingnesse, to haue the whole course of their Discourse there determined: like as when

A Word] By Telling of whose Glory, the Dayes haue [Page 163] gain'd the greatest Glory of their whole Report. Report, now iumping & ioyning hands with that Report of the Prophet Isaiah, where he saith; Lord, who hath beleeued our Report? &c. which Report, to report vnto you of whose Glory it was, I leaue to S. Iohn, chap. 12. v. 41.

A Word] of which (as in his Common place, and as his Expanse and Pertingencie, together with GODS Glory, is extended over all, and beyond all Encomiasticall Ex­plication) much already hath beene spoken. And yet, as in his Proper place of Circumscribing Glory, I haue more to say of Him, which I haue thought vpon. (Ecclesia­sticus, 39. 12.)

A Word] more Significant, then [...] (Da [...]ar) is in Hebrew. A Word] that signisieth a Thing, whereby all Words doe Signifie. A Thing, before All things, & in whō All things consist, Col. 1. 17.

A word] Strong, of Almighty Operation, Cause of All things, and by whom All Words and Workes Arose, and were Raised vp from Nothing.

A Word] that is The Day Spring from an High, that hath visited vs. (Luk: 2. v. 78.) & out of whose Strength comes forth Sweetnesse See Iudg. 14..

A Word] that is a Branch, or Sprout (Zach. 3. 8. & 6. 12 & Isa. 11. 1.)overspreading the whole world, aimed at by the Branches of Signification of the Dayes Telling, and that (as the Prophet Zach. 6. 12.saith) shall Grow vp out of his place, and shall cause Others to Malach. 4. 2. growe and Arise vp by Him and with him.

A Word] that is the Standing Isa. 11. 10. &, Rom. 15. 12. Standert Roote of Iesse, that being Iohn. 12. 32. Lifted vp draweth all men vnto him, into his [Page 164] Glorious Rest Isai. 11. 10. & Rom. 15. 12.Vs especially The Gentiles, that Trust, & Seeke vnto his Ensigne; whom also he hath receaued, to The Glory of GOD, as the Apostle speaketh, Rom. 15. where he withall maketh Christs Arising a Refuge to the Gen­tiles, A Light vnto Them, and a Ruler over Them, to be an Especiall point of GODS Glory; That the Gentiles might Glorifie GOD for his Mercy, &c. And therefore I might by no meanes omit, to touch this point in this Relation of GODS Glory: no, nor to touch the mindes of vs Gentiles with This Points Admonition; how that vp­on iuse cause it is especially required of vs Gentiles to Glorifie the Lord. And therefore let vs all herevnto for ever, by your Amendment, in Obeying his Comman­dements, say Amen.

A Word] That is Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and the End, of all the Alphabet of all the words & works, that wee, or any other, can Speake, or Doe vnto GODS Glory.

A Word] So Beginning, That So was In the Begin­ning, and Before The Beginning of All Worlds: That In him, By him, and Through him, is not only the Source & the Beginning, but the very Being, of Dayes and Nights, and the rest of GODS Creatures. And So, that never will any Day or Night, nor should any of his Of spring make an End of Talking, and of making Shew & De­claration of His Beginning. His Beginning, that cau­seth the Creatures Perfectst Being. His Beginning, and making of an End, To whom and For whom are All Things, and their Ends. Whose Making of an Ende, shall giue Beginning to their Greatest Glory and Happinesse: which [Page 165] is an Everlasting view of The Greatest shew of GODS Glory, when in the End of the Alphabet God shall be All in All (1. Cor. 15. 28.) Most Admired for his Great Goodnes, (Ω how Great, and Ω how Good!) Most Richly and Glori­ously Beseene, and Seene of All.

One Day telleth a word vnto another] [...], This Word is the Lord; saith Clemens Alexandrinus [...].. So Iustin Martyr Apolog. 2. pro Christianu. vnderstandeth [...], The Doctrine and the Appearing, or Comming of Christ, to be here vttered, revealed, and reported. S. Austin also, on the Title of this Psalme, saith: De Iesu Christo haec dicuntur, These things are spoken of Iesus Christ. And on my Text, by the word, [Word,] he vnderstandeth Pleni­tudinem [...]ncommutabilis Sapientiae Det, quod verbum in principio Deus a pud Deum est: The Fulnesse of the vn­changeable Wisdome of God, which word was in the Begin­ning GOD with GOD. In like sense Arnobius and many others haue taken the Word, which here One Day is said to tell another: Especially those, who haue interpre­ted these words Allegorically, whereof ye heard in my first Sermon.

To this Exposition are fitting (among other things) the Springs of the Arabian Root, There pag. 28.also bespoken for this Service. Neither is the Word [Omer] therevn­to vnsutable, being (as hath beene said) onely of the Singular Number: Even as Christ also himselfe is The Word Christ. a true Vnion VNE SANS PLVS, One and no more. One and Singular. One Seed, (Gal. 3. 16.) One Mediatour, and One Saviour. One, as hee is GOD: One, as hee is Man: and One, as he is both GOD and Man. One, as GOD: One, as The Onely Begotten Sonne of GOD: And therefore [Page 166] One too, in the Assumed Humanitie, by vnitie of Per­son See, the Di­vine Creed of Athanasi­us..So, still One; and But One word, as before ye heard: but such a One as is better then all others; &, being well Learned, will make you the greatest Scholers in the world. Yee need not, nay yee must not, goe so farre as to the Plurall Number, to Learne more then One Phil. 3. 8. 1. Cor 2. 2.such word, to become as Singular Scholers, as S. Paule was: who Esteemed not to Knowe Any thing, saue Iesus Christ, and him Crucified.

And no marvaile, for this Word is Proper onely vn­to him, who Knoweth All things: & to know the Pro­prieties of this Word, is a true Impropriation of the Be­nefit of All Knowledge. Yea the very Etymologie of this Word, is True Reason, Word-Truth, and Word of Truth: e­nough to make True Schollership. And if the Words of Men doe so further vs in the way of Learning and Knowledge: how then shall not this most Curious and Exact word, this Lordly Word, this Word of the Lord, and Proper word of God, being once learned, prosper with vs, to the Command of commendati­on for our Learning?

[Page 167] In this and every respect, Apolinarius doth well rē ­der this Word here in my Text, [...], an Honou­red, or, a pretious word. [...], Chosen, or Choice, and Pretious, S. Peter 1. Pet. 2. 4, 6calleth him: and hee is called by Hermes As he is al­leaged by La­ctantius, Div. instit. l. 4. c. 7., [...], a Holy word.

Of this indeed most Choice, most Holy, most Honou­rable, and most Pretious Word of GOD, Two things.

1 The One; How this word is by One Day told vnto another.

2 The other; That the Dayes by recounting this word, doe most of all recount Gods Glory.

1 Touching the first; t'is an excellent place of Atha­nasius, against the Gentiles, where he saith: Vel (secundā P etrum Nan­nium) Sufficit, [...].Iuvat cre­aturam ipsam contra illos citare testem clamantem [...], propemodum. Nan.quo­dammodo, & autorem opificem (que) summ Deum Patrem Do­mini nostri Iesu Christi apertè praedicantem. And a little after: Nempe enim haec ipsa constantia praedicat, insinu­at (que) Patrem verbi suum esse opificem ac Deum, dum abs (que) vlla Vid. Graec. & versionem Nan, nii.cōtradictione ipsius paret imperio: sicut divina quo (que) Lex admonet, dicens: Coeli enarrant Gloriam Dei, &c: It liketh me well (saith he) to produce, as witnesse against the Heathen, the Heavens and the Firmament, the Day & the Night, yea and the whole state of things created: as it were (or, well neere) openly proclaiming and pronouncing, God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ to be their maker and creatour. For this their stablenesse & continuance alwaies after one sort, signifieth and denounceth the Father of the word to be their maker and their God: whilest they still obey his saying of the word, without any word of contradicting, or gainsaying. That which also Gods word telleth vs, where [Page 168] t'is said: The Heavens declare the Glory of God, and the Fir­mament sheweth his handy Worke: One Day telleth a word vnto another, &c. See more hereof there, about a leafe after; from those words, Porrò veritatis, via an eum, &c. vnto those. N si fortè sicuti Deum negave­runt, &c. & fol. 218. [...], from Porrò ipsom in omnibus &c. vnto, Haec au­tem & omnis divinitùs inspi rata &c.

Diverse and sundry waies is this Word by One Day told vnto another. as by the Resemblāce that every Day hath of the Creatour, and therefore of this Word also. This being that word of the Lord, by which the Heavens and the Dayes were made. (Psal 33. 6. and Ioh. 1. 3.) & this Word being that Wisedome of the Lord, by which he hath laid the foundation of the earth; and that Vnderstan­ding, through which he hath established the Heavēs. Prov. [...]. 19. Of the Resemblance of the Creatours Glory en­stamped in the Dayes, already In the third Sermon.hath beene spoken. To which we may adde that of Theophilus Antiochenus, (lib. 2.) Who saith, that those three first Dayes, which were before the creation of the two great Lights, [...] Are types and models of a Trinity▪ of God, and of his Word, & of his Wisedome. So that this Word was that Day first de­clared, in which Gods Wisedome first declared it selfe vnto the world, by making the first Day, & the works thereof, by such a I [...]a etiam Ire­naeus (l. 4▪ c. 17) Sapientiam Spi. ritui attribuit. So is he cal­led by Her­mes, [...]. Lactā ­tius. word of Wisedome, and in such wisedome of his word. And in like sort was this word declared by the rest of the Dayes of the Creation, & declared was it in their According to an Expo­sition before in the first Sermon.Creation. Also afterwardes this Word was that Day excellently published & pro­nounced, in which he first was Gen. 3. [...]5. See the laste Point.promised for the Re­demption of the world. Then againe frō time to time, from Day to Day continually, how often by types & figures, by shadowes and resemblances, by visions and [Page 169] by prophecies, was this Word still forshewed, yea and shewed forth vnto the world?

So that it was no marveile, if, by the Dayes so & so reporting this Word vnto the world, the very heathen men themselues had such knowledge of this heavenly word, as they had. For, Fuerunt & Prophetae non ipsius, in quibus etiam aliqua inveniuntur, quae de Christo audi­ta ceeinerunt: sicut etiam de Sibylla dicitur, &c. saith S. Austin, in his begunne Exposition on the Epistle to the Romanes. There were certaine Prophets, and yet none of Gods Prophets nether, in whom are some things found concerning Christ: which after they had heard, they also sang of & reported: among whom was Sibylla. Which (saith S. Austin)▪ I should not easily haue beleeved, but for that of a certaine famous Poët among the Latins, (meaning Eclog. 4.Virgil) Vltima Cumaet venit tā carminis aetas, &c. And S. Austin hath afterwardes in the same place, how that th' Apostle knew, ea in libris gentium inveniri te­stimonia veritatis, that there were such testimonies of the Truth found in the books of the Gētiles. And again, alittle after: In literis Gentiū superstitiosae idololatriae plenissimis aliquid quod ad Christū pertinet invenitur. There is some­thing found cōcerning Christ, thē in the most superstitious & Idolatrous books of the Gentils. Norknew the Gētiles something only concerning Christ. For they had know­ledge also of this Word, even as he was the Word; as ap­peareth by that of Serapis vnto Thulis king of Aegypt:

[...]. And La­ctantius (in his 4 ^th booke of Divine Institutions, the 9. Chapter) saith, That the Philosophers were not igno­rant of this VVord; and alleageth there to that purpose [Page 170] Zenon, predicating this word: & Hermes, often describing virtutem maiestatem (que) verbi, the vertue and maiestie of this word. Besides, Lib. 11. de E­vang. prepar. cap. 10. Eusebius, and Cyrill write, (and the like is also shewed by S. Chrysostome, & S. in Sermone in verba illa [In principio crat verb [...] m] H [...]ce­go (Sez [...]illa ver­ba Ioannis) in­quit, novi mul­tos etiam extra veritatis ratio­nem mundana [...] sapientia pr [...]di­tos, iactantes, &c. Basill) That Amelius a Platonist, and Heraclitus approved it to bee well said of that Barbarian, (so called they S. Iohn, be­cause he was a Iew) In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and that word was God. S. Austin also Lib. 8, confess. cap. 2, in princi­pio. Commemo ravi legisse me quosdam libros, in istis autem omnibus modis insinuari Deum & eius verbum.affirmeth, that he had read this beginning of S. Iohns Gospell in the bookes of some of the Platonists. And in his tēth booke de civitate dei, cap. 29. Iuxta finem.he saith, That a certaine Platonist (as Simplictanus, a reverend old man, and which was afterwards Bishop of Myl­lane, was wont to tell him) said, That that beginning of S. Iohns Gospell was worthy to be writtē in Aureis literis conscribendum, & per omnes Ecclesias, &c.Gol­den Letters, and to be set vp and published in everie Church and Congregation, and that in the most emi­nent and conspicuous places.

Out of all which wee gather still more and more, how inexcusable the Infidels and vnbeleevers are, for not Beleeving this word of God, yea and for not Belee­ving in him, of whom by every Dayes Report they had heard so much. And so much of the first thing here observed, touching this most honorable & most pretious VVord of God.

Gods Glory by the word Christ Iesus Best of all Reported. 2 The other, and last thing is; That the Dayes by recoū ­ting this word, doe most of all recount Gods Glory.

The Reason hereof is plaine. For God speaking di­verse and sundry waies vnto vs, that we may see him; and there being Three miroirs, in which God sheweth him [Page 171] selfe and his Glory vnto vs to be knowne: to wit, his word by his works, his word by the Scriptures, & his word Christ Iesus: by this last word only is God best known, & shineth perfectly vnto vs: In as much as t'is by him too, that God is by those other two waies, or anie way whatsoever, revealed vnto Whereof see Irenaeus, lib. 4. cap. 14.vs. And in as much as he is the Best word of all; as S. Iohn laboureth to proue; both in his Gospell, and in his Epistles: in both which he calleth him The word of Ioh. 1. 4. & 1. Ioh. 1. 1. life, at (que) in vita concludit omnia Dei beneficta, vnder Life he compriseth all Gods Be­nefites, saith one Naogeorgus in 1. Ioh. 1, 1.there.

Gods Glory, by the Day, or, Time of our Redemption. Among the which, the chiefest, & redoūding most to GODS Glory, is our Redemptiō, both promised, & per­formed. So here we haue a word▪] out of whose Incar­natiō, asof the most rare & excellent, most Divine & wōderful Babe & Suckling, the Praise of God is best perfited. Out of whose Nativity, but much more out of the ef­fusion of his Bloud, as of the Best wine Reserved to the last, and the infusion thereof into our wounds; out of the aspersion and inspersion thereof, and out of the vertue of his most Glorious Resurrection, doe the Spar­kles of Gods Glory arise and mount vp into the Highest.

Hereof; and how Sweete, how Gracefull, and how Glorious, the Speech is, the Hearing, the Report hereof: hath, in this poore speech of mine, already beene re­ported to your hearing.

In Respect of all which, yea All Gods Benefites to­wards vs, Christ is most worthily called [Omer] a word.] A word in Deed: or, a Doing word. A word] of Greatest Power, to Doe Such things. A word] of most Faith­fulnesse] [Page 172] to Doe what was said, in Things of so hard Be­liefe; and for Those, who were so Vnfaithfull in their Deedes and Sayings. A word] of Greatest Comfort: a true [...], or Homer, vnto vs, according to all Greekish Derivations. A word] a pledge, of Gods Good will towardes vs. A word,] our true Hermes, and Interpreter, by whō GOD and Man came to parle to together. A word] by whose wordes we must be Guided, and all our wordes & workes must be Directed. Yea and, (to say it againe) A word] of most True Directiō; which we must [...], Fol­low, as the Guide of our feete into the way of peace. A word] whereby GOD did [...], Follow after man that had Forsaken him; Seeke him, that was Lost, vntill hee Found him; Made him, and, after he was Marred, did Remake him. And therefore too A word] for vs to put our Trust & Confidence in, aboue all Things & Works in the world. According as David often saith: In Or, His. thy word; not, In my VVorkes, is my Or, Hope. Vid. pag. 31. Trust.

A word] to whom, hauing hidden in him all the Trea­sures of VVisdome and Knowledge, (Col. 2. 3.) doe most truely and principally belong those exceeding high Elogies, or Reports of Commendation, which very ma­ny haue giuen vnto Homer. Among the rest, That of King Alexander, calling him [...], a Kingly Poët. That of Aristotle In Art. Poet., [...]: He only of all Poëts (or, Word-Works contrivers) is so wise and wittie, to Know what is Fit for him to Doe, and to obserue a Decorum in every thing Vid Ecclus, 39. 17, 21, 33, 34..And that of Velleius Lib. 1.: Magnitudine Vers. 1 bulus Psalmi, Opera Manuum eius: Grec [...]. Operum, & fulgore Ordinem secu­lorum tanquam pulc [...]errunum Carmen, &c. p. 68. & vid p. 45. Carminū, Solus appellari Poët a mer uit: He only, for the Greatnesse of [Page 173] his Works, and Resplendent Glory of his Words, [...], Xe­noph. Me­morab. lib. 1. [...], The­mist. [...] &c. A [...]st [...]. in Art. po [...]t. In ver [...]is, &c. Fabius. hath de­serued the name of a Poët, or, a Word-Work. Maker. In the Words of the Lord are his Workes. Ecclus, 42. 15. By the Word of the Lord were the Heauens Made Psal. 33 6. 9..&c. Hee spake the word, and it was Done Psal 148. 5. &, in Effect, Mo [...] (Gē 1) [...]. Clem. Alexand▪ Strom. 5.. Hee spake the Word and they were Made; he Commanded and they were Created. Yea, He Spake the Word too, & Men they were Remade; he said A­men, and Men they were Recreated, & Amended. Who See Ioh. 7. 46. &, Luk. 4. 22.ever Spake as This Word Speaketh? Who ever Writ, or Wrought, as This Word Worketh? Yea & writeth too in the Tables of our Hearts, and writeth [...]ookes too of GODS Glory; of larger volume then the Heavens, and of more contenting Contents then the Creation.

One Day Telleth another] This Word to be Their Ma­ker. And more then that: This VVord to be Mans Ma­ker and Remaker.

And no marveile. For here we haue a Day, Telling, and Told of, of Ioy vnspeakeable: The Day, or Time, of our Redemption: By and through a Word vnspeakeable.

O word of our Redemptiō! ô Omer, our true [...]Rome, and [...], Fo­bur. & see the last verse of this Psalme.Strength of our Redemption! ô our Redee­ming Homer too! And therefore our true Divine Ho­mer too: most worthy of so high an Aspiration; most worthy of the Attribution of Divine [...]. Plato in Ione. [...], Arist. in Art. po­et. Immortalē hanc Coelestem (que) Na­turam. Quinti [...]. X. Titles, and of the [...]. Plato in Ione. [...], Arist. in Art. po­et. Immortalē hanc Coelestem (que) Na­turam. Quinti [...]. X. Immortal and Heavenly Nature. Which if by a profuse Hyperbole (to make the best of it) they haue beene ascribed, & that by some Christians too, to Ho­mer of the Infidels, to the Almost Adoring of him: Thē much easier, I hope, it will be to perswade all men, to ascribe, and that without any Hyperbole, to this Christ-Homer of vs Christians, True Divinity, the Divine and Heavenly Nature, perfect Deity, and Equality with God: and so to proceede from Almost, to Altogether wor­shipping of Him.

This also is enforced, by vertue of his being, as eve­ry Day exceedingly vnto Gods glory Reporteth of him, 1, Cor. 2 11.the [...] word of God, the word of his Mind, the word of his Counsell, the word of his Wisdome, and Intelligence. For, saith the Apostle, What man knoweth the things of a Man, saue the spirit of man, which is in him? Even so the things of God knovveth no Man, but he that is of the same Nature with God. No, not Those Deepe things of God, which are Revealed vnto vs, are Searched, or Reuea­led, but by the Spirit of God. much less are V. 10. All things, yea Those Deepe Things of God, which are Concealed frō vs [Page 175] and Vnsearchable, and the Inward & Essentiall Things of God; much lesse, I say, are they Searched but by GOD; who knoweth thē without Searching. Who knoweth the Rom. 11. 34. & 1. Cor. 2. 16 Mind of God, but Himselfe? Who hath beene his Counsel­ler, or mata Heo. isai 40. 13. Man of his Counsell, but Himselfe? Who of His Knovvledge and Wisedome, but Himselfe? In a word, who is in the [...] Iatrinse­cis Diuinitatis habens [...]an [...]m Notitiam cum p [...]tre. Lyra there. Bosome of the Father, (as S. Iohn spea­keth) but such a one His Sonne, as is of the Same Na­ture with Himselfe?

Moreover Saint Iohn saith plainely, and without Trope or Figure, that That word was Ich. 1. 1. God. God? And what more can be said, to shew the excellencie of this word? Word? And what lesse then is a word, to bee a God? And therefore he must needs be [...], Noted by S. Chrysostome, & Theophy­lact. by S. Chrys, homil. in loan. 1. & 2. the word, or, that word, a word [...], in an eminent sort. Whose Glorious Eminencie, as it is at once de­ciphered by S. Iohn, (Ioh. 1. 14.) When he saith, we saw the Glory thereof, as the Glory of the only begot­ten Sonne of the Father: so also shal it be shewed in all that followeth. Whilest we shal farther declare, how by this word, or, Sonne of God, we are brought to the rightest knowledge of God, and that in him is Gods Glo­ry most resplendent.

Isai. 9. 6. He is called Counseller. As who only is pri vie to Gods Counsell, and can best Counsell vs in things concerning GOD. He is (as yee haue heard) our right Hermes, and our Homer too. To whom both Princes and Peoples Muses should bee addicted and affixed. Whose Healing Rev. 22. 2. Leaues and words of wisedome ought still to lie in and vnderneath Nosti [...]illud Alexandri Ma­cedonis, qui Ho­merum ad ver­bū edidicisse, ac do, miens etiam cervicali suppo­situm babu [...]sse fertur.our heads. On whom [Page 176] our best way and Method is ever to relie, and set vp our Rest for Knowledge, and for Learning. On whose Sup­portation if we recline our dull and heavy heads, as S. Iohn did, when he Ioh. 13. 25. &, 21. 20. lay and leaned on his Breast: we shall both take Sweete, and Safe, and Satisfying Rest; and also take Best Counsell of our Pillow. For that is our true Sibylla too, out of whose Words and Works we are best instructed in the whole Will of God: In as much as GOD himselfe is best able to Declare his owne minde vnto vs.

The Poet Claudian (de laude Christi) speaking of the comming of Christ, maketh this to be the End there­of:

Autorem nescire suum. That men might rightly know God their maker. Which knowledge of GOD by Christ Iesus, we that are indeede Christians know to be as much worth, as Felicity it selfe; according to that Ioh. 17. 3. This is life eternall, to know thee the only true God, and him whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ.]: To know thee by Iesus Christ. In whom, whatsoever the Father hath, he would haue heaped and hoarded vp, that so he might both communicate himselfe wholy vnto vs, and might glorifie his name. Hence saith Ioh. 10. 30. Christ, I and my Father are one. And, Ioh. 14 9.He that seeth me seeth my Father. And, Ioh. 14. 6.No man commeth to the Father, but by me. And, Mat 11. 27▪No man knoweth the Father but the Sonne, and he to whome the Sonne will reveale him. And, Ioh. 14 6.I am the [Page] Way. And, Ioh. 10. 9▪I am the Doore. And, Ioh. 8. 12. & 9. 5. & 12. 35. & Ioh. 1. 4, 5.I am the Light. And, Ioh. 1. 9. He was the true Light, which lighteth every man that commeth into the World. For t'is by him that the lustre of his Fathers Glory best of all bebeameth the whole world. Hence the Apostle (2. Cor. 4. 6.) pla­ceth and reposeth the Light or Illumination of the knowledge of the Glory of God, in the face of Iesus Christ: when he saith, God hath shined in our hearts, to giue the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Iesus Christ. In the Face of Iesus Christ. For he is the liuely Image of his Father. The Image of the invisi­ble God. Col. 1. 15. and 2. Cor. 4. 4. The Brightnesse of his Fathers Glory, and the very Image of his Substance. Heb. 1. 3. And, as t'is in the 7 ^th of Wisdome, verse 25, 26. He is a pure influence that floweth from the Glory of the Al­mightie: the Brightnesse of the everlasting Light, The vn­defiled Mirrour of the Maiestie of God, and the Image of his Goodnesse.

We spake before In the third Sermon.of other Images and Resem­blances of Gods Glory. All which come infinitely farre short of this Image. For Man himselfe herevnto com­pared is not so much the Image of God simply, as hee is said to be made rather after the Image of God. Indeede 1. Cor. 11. 7. Man is there called, The Image and Glory of God. But elsewhere he is said to be made after the Image of God. Why, The Image? And yet, why After the Image? The Image: because he is indeede like vnto GOD. A­gaine, After the Image: because of the vnlikenesse or vnperfectnesse of this likenesse: in that he doth not perfectly resemble GOD, as Christ representeth his Fa­ther. [Page 178] According as D [...] Operib. Dei l. 3. c. 1. parl. 3. Zanchius hath delivered out of S. Tom. 3. de Tri­nit. lib. 7. cap. 6. Austin. Philo, followed by many others, saith: [...]. Christ, or The word, is indeede the Image of God: but Man is but the Image of that Image, or, the Image of Christ.

Certainely Christ is the true, the first, the Substan­tiall, and most Perfect Image of GOD. And that, (as vbi supra. Zanchius at large proveth) both as he is the Eternall Begotten Sonne of GOD, of the same Substance with the Father: (whence he is called, The Character of his Substāce Heb▪ 1. 3.)And also, as he was manifested in the flesh. For in him, when he was made visible by the flesh (as S. Iohn 1. Ioh. 1. 1. And Tertull. de Trinitate, sai [...]h: Filius est hic qui videtur, Dei autem filius Dei verbum est: &c. See also H [...]lar. in Psal. 51. and Iren [...]. lib. 4. cap. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 21, 22.saith, That which we haue seene with our eies, which we haue looked vpon of the word of life) was the whole Perfection of the Father, & as it were The Fa­thers Face confpicuous. For having most perfectly in himselfe the full and complete Nature and Substance of his Father: That, as it were to the eie-sight, did hee exhibite and represent also in his flesh, and by the Glorious Effects thereof revealed it. For Col. 2. 9. The Ful­nesse of the Godhead, which is in the Sonne, being [...], bodily vnited to his flesh, and as it were im­printed in it, did by diverse wayes and workes perfect­ly resemble his owne and the Fathers Nature & con­dition. And therefore in him truely was that Faire Forme and Beautifull Face as it were, Quae sioculis cerne­retur, mirabiles amores excitaret Ci [...] offic l b. 1. [...]. Sapientiae: which if we could see with our eies, would make vs wonderfully in loue with Wisedome.

We shewed [...]specially in [...] second [...] on.heretofore out of Saint Chrysostome, [Page 179] and otherwise, how the sight and sightlynesse of the Heavens and the Firmament, the Day and the Night, and such like, vttered a voice (of GODS Glory) more shrill then any Trumpet. VVhat then may we thinke of the Sight and Sightlynesse of him; Vid. Iren. lib. 4. c. 15. & lib. 3. cap. 18. Whose Day Abraham savv but a farre of, but by the eies of By the Spi­rit of Prophe­cie, saith Ire­naeus, l. 4. c 15. faith, and Ioh. 8. 56. yet reioyced. Whose Day of being Pre­sented in the Temple when Luk. 2. Simeon saw with his bo­dyly eies, he was even ravished with the sight of him, and thought himselfe had lived long enough, And no marveile. For hee had seene a Glorious Presentati­on, yea a Representation of the Glory of GOD. Whose Birth-Day when the Shepheards saw, and saw him too, they Gloryfied and praised God for all that they had Luk. 2. 20. seene. All that they had seene. They had seene An Angell, yea a Multitude of Angels: they had seene The Glory of the Lord shine round about them­selues; yet was all this but a Glorious Flourish as it were, in respect of that Flourishing Glory which af­terwardes they saw, when they saw Christ the Lord. In respect of whome, and for the greatnesse of the Glory revealed by him: as if men were not able, not so much as in Wordes only, sufficiently to expresse and blason GODS Glory: And as if none but Angels were fit to be attendants: none to bee Heraulds at armes, but the hoste of Heaven: none, but those that stand Luk. 1. 19, in the Presence of GODS Glory, to pre­sent the Worlde with such Glorious tidings, yea and to present the Worldes-maker too with Praise, for making that his Great Glory so to be presented and [Page 180] represented to the World: The Angels too them­selues Praise God, and say, Glory in the Highest to God, &c. So also, See pag. 28. Hosanna in the highest. (Matth. 21. 9. and Mark. 11. 10.) In the Highest. And why so at Christs Birth? And why so in respect of Christ? To in­timate vnto men, That in and by Christ Iesus is Gods Glory best set forth: and therefore that from hence­forth they should Glorifie GOD in and by Christ Ie­sus. Deo enim silet, saith Saint Lib. 1. expos. in 1. Reg. cap. 2. Ad canendum & Christo & Deo. Tertullian. Apolog. Gregorie, qui Pa­trem laudans, Vnigeniti laudem tacet. He prayseth not GOD at all, vvho prayseth not the Father by the Sonne, or, vvho prayseth not the Father and the Sonne toge­ther. Ad Donatum de Fide Ortho­doxa. Fulgentius saith farther; Ne (que) enim fas est sic adorare Deum Patrem, vt Deum Filium non adoret. T'is no lawfull worshipping of God the Father, where God the Sonne is not also worshipped Non potest ille summus, ac sin­gularis Deus ni­si per filium coli. Qui solum patre se colere putat; sicut filium non colil, ita ne patre quidem &c. La­ctantius divin. instit. lib. 4. c. 29.. Yea t'is Gospell it selfe, (Ioh. 5. 23.) That all men should Honour the Sonne, as they Honour the Father: He that Honoureth not the Son, Honoureth not the Father.

If therefore, Beloued, wee will Glory in GOD, (as; He that Glorieth, ought to Glory in this, that he vnderstan­deth and Knoweth God. Ier. 9. 24.) it must be by Christ Ie­sus; according to that of S. Paul, (Rom. 5. 11.) Glorying in GOD through our Lord Iesus Christ. And if wee will Glorifie GOD, it must bee by Christ Iesus too: Especi­ally, as he is our Lord, our Strength, and our Redeemers which David here, a Day-like Actuarie of the Dayes Relation, maketh the sweetest and most Glorious close, or Exit, of this Psalme. For The Dayes, as yee see, here in my Text, doe after their maner so Glorifie GOD, as [Page 181] that they doe it too, and doe it then best when they so doe it, by vttering the Word, and Glory of God Christ Iesus. Or if they did not so; yet S. Paul would teach vs so to doe, and so to conclude The Dayes Report of Gods Glory: To God be Glory in the Church by Christ Iesus, throughout all generations for ever, Amen. Ephes. 3. 21. And, (which shall be my last words, and the vp­shot of our Dayly Shouting for Salvation See. p. 28.) the last wordes of the Epistle to the Romanes; To God only Wise, be Glory through Iesus Christ for ever. Amen.

[...].