THE BRUISED REED. A Sermon preached before his Grace, and the rest of his Majesties Commissioners in causes Ecclesiasticall, Decemb. 4. An. Dom. 1617. at Lambeth. THE FIRST SERMON.

I Would not presume to found a bruised Reed, or winde a crack't Pipe in this place, destinated and appointed for the silver Trumpets of Sion; nor blow my smoaking Flaxe here, where the cleerest Lights of the Sanctua­ry usually shine, if the Text of Scripture, even now read in your eares, encouraged mee not thereunto, teaching the strongest and tallest Cedars of Lebanon, by the example of the Highest, not to fall upon, and breake the bruised Reed: and likewise the brightest burning Lampes of the Church not to do ut, and quench the smoaking, or (as the Hebrew beares it) the dimly burning Flaxe of their brethrens obscurer parts and labours. A bruised Reed, &c.

Whether by bruised Reed, with S. Gregory, we understand the broken Scepter of the Jewish Kingdome; and by smoaking Flaxe, the Aaronicall Priesthood, destitute of the light of Faith, and now ready to goe out and expire; or by Arundinem conquassatam, the shaken Reed (as S. Hierome reades the words) wee conceive the wavering faith of the Jewes to bee meant; and by the smoaking Flaxe, the momentary fervour of the Gen­tiles, [Page 2] which is Tertullians exposition, seconded by Rhemigius: or we take the bruised Reeds in Saint Hilaries construction for the maimed bodies of such as were brought to Christ; and smoaking Flaxe, for their troubled mindes and distressed consciences: or we be carried with the maine current of later Interpreters, who are all strongly for all penitent sinners oppressed with the heavie burden of their sinnes, and stricken with the horrour of Gods judgements, in whom there remaines any sparke of grace, to be sha­dowed under the Metaphors of the bruised Reed and smoaking Flaxe.

The descant is somewhat different, the ground is the same; all warbling the sweet note of our Redeemers most gracious and mercifull disposition, who was so meek in his speeches, that hee never strained his voice to ex­claime bitterly, and inveigh vehemently against any; Ver. 19. He shall not cry, nor lift up his voice: and so milde and altogether innocent in his acti­ons, that he never brake so much as a bruised Reed, nor trode out a smothe­ring Week, or smoaking Flaxe.

To cleere then the meaning of this Scripture from all mists of obscuri­ty, arising from variety of Interpretations, give mee leave, as it were, to melt many small waxe lights into a great Taper, by a generall Paraphrase upon the words. Hee, that is, Jesus, the second person in Trinity, our Me­diatour and Saviour (as S. Matthew, by applying this Prophecy unto him, consequently expoundeth it) Shall or will not breake [...], that is, destroy or cast away a bruised Reed or Cane, [...], that is, an afflicted and contrite sinner, be he Prince or Priest, in Saint Gregories sense; Jew or Gentile, according to Tertullians interpretation; afflicted in body or in minde, agreeable to S. Hilaries exposition.

And smoaking flaxe he shall or will not quench, that is, hee will not dis­hearten or discourage any Puny or Novice in his Schoole; but on the con­trary he will cherish the smallest seeds of grace, and weake beginnings in new converts: neither will he take away his Spirit from any relapsed and languishing Christian, exhaling bitter and darke fumes of sighes for his sinnes, if there remaine any light of faith in him, though never so obscure: any heat of true zeale and devotion, though very weake, and scarce sensi­ble. Behold here then store and aboundance of the Balme of Gilead, drop­ping from this sweet Cane in my Text. A Reed; what so weak? and that bruised; what so unprofitable? yet shall not be broken: And Flaxe, or the weeke of a lampe or candle; what so vile? and that smoaking; what so loathsome? yet shall not be quenched. By this cursory interpretation and illustration of the words you may easily distinguish in them,

• 1. Two members of this Propheticall sen­tence.
  • A bruised, &c.
  • A smoaking, &c.
• 2. Two subjects answerable to the two members.
  • Reed,
  • Flaxe.
• 3. Two attributes proper to these sub­jects.
  • Bruising,
  • Smoaking.
• 4. Two acts sutable to these attri­butes.
  • Breake,
  • Quench.

[Page 3] both removed from, and denied of Christ, he shall not breake, he shall not quench. Of these, by the concurrence of Gods assistance, with your pati­ence, now and hereafter, according to the order of the words in the origi­nall: A reed bruised he shall not breake.

A reed. Although the reed in my Text may seeme hollow, and conse­quently empty of matter fit for our use; yet if you please to look narrow­ly into it, you shall finde it like that precious staffe which Brutus offered to Apollo, in the hollow whereof much massie gold was inclosed. Cujus intus so­lidum autum corneo velaba­tur cortice. Liv. Dec. Pri. l. 2. To open this horne or cane, that wee may finde the treasure hid in it, may it please you to take notice of a foure-fold Reed described in holy Scriptures:

• 1. Mysticall.
• 2. Artificiall.
• 3. Naturall.
• 4. Morall.

Of the Mysticall you have heard already out of the Fathers. The Arti­ficiall reed is a golden instrument to mete withall, mentioned, Ezek. 40.5. Apoc. 21.15. I need not speake of the Naturall reed, And he that tal­ked with me, had a golden reed to measure the City. it is so well knowne to be a watery plant, or tree, wherewith nature fenceth the bankes of ri­vers and brookes, placing them thicke about the flagges, as it were so many pikes in an Army about the ensignes or streamers. Plin. hist. nat. l. 16. c. 36. Calamis orien­tis populi bella conficiunt, ca­lamis spicula addunt irrevo­cabili hamo noxia, his ar­mis Solem ip­sum obscurant. The great Naturalist setteth forth this plant in the richest colours of Rhetoricke, out of a kinde of gratitude, as being indebted to it for his pen and pensill, which were an­ciently made of canes, as now of quils. The people of the East use reeds in their wars, of these they make deadly darts, these they wing with feathers, and they let them flye in such aboundance, that they over-shadow the Sunne. To these reeds the Prophet Esay 19.6. Esay pointeth: The reeds and flagges shall wi­ther. But our Saviour Matth. 11.7. evidently alludeth to a Morall reed: What went you out into the wildernesse to see? a Reed shaken with the wind? that is, a timorous and inconstant man. No, John was no such reed, hee was not light nor unstable, nor must we be, Apoc. 3.12. if wee expect one day to bee made pillars in the Temple of God.

Of these foure kindes of reeds, which sorteth best with the meaning of this Scripture? the Artificiall cannot bee here meant; for that's a perfect straight cane: but this a bowed or bruised. Maldon. In hunc locum adeò quierè & attentè ambu­labit, ut etiamsi super arundi­nem jam quas­satam, qua ni­hil fragilius esse potest, pe­dem poneret, eam non con­fringeret. Maldonat glaunceth at the Naturall, and thus (as he imagineth) hitteth the sense: He will tread so wa­rily and lightly, that if a bruised reed were under his feet, he would not breake it, or crush it in pieces. But St. Hieron. Per calamum quas­satum & con­tusum intelli­git populum Jud [...]icum, qui anteà vocalis & sonorus laudes Deo concinebat, posteà impingens in angularem lapidem, meritò appellatur calamus fractus, pertundens manum ejus qui illi voluerit inniti. Hierome sweetly playeth upon the My­sticall reed: By the shaken and bruised reed, saith hee, the Evangelist under­standeth the people of the Jewes, which in former time were sound and entire, and sweetly sounded out the praises of God; but now falling upon the corner stone, were cracked: and therefore are fitly termed a bruised reed, running into their hands who leane upon it.

And Gorrh. in Matth. 12. U [...]ebantur exterius literali Legis observantia, sed vacui erant interius spirituali intelligentia. Gorrhan addeth, that the Jewish people might in this also be com­pared to reeds, that they stucke to the letter of the Law, and were inwardly hollow, that is, empty of the spirituall sense and meaning. Yet the same Saint Hieron. Qui peccatori non porrigit manum, nec portatonus fratris sui, iste ca­lamum quassatum confringit. Jerome in his Commentaries upon St. Matthew, understandeth Reed in my Text morally, taking it for a fraile and weake man, whereof what fitter [Page 4] embleme can be devised than a reed? 1. A reed hollow within, and man by nature empty and void of all inward grace. 2. A reed apt to make a pipe to sound, or cane to write; and man likewise fitted with a tongue to sound out, and a hand to write his Makers praises. 3. A reed dry or unfruitfull, though planted and growing by the river side; and man dry and unfruitfull in good workes, though continually watered with the dew of Gods bles­sings. 4. A reed ever wagging of it selfe, or shaken, and man so unstable, that Plato defines him [...], a changeable creature. 5. A reed so weake, that it yeeldeth to the least puffe of winde, and is blowne downe to the ground with a violent blast; and man so feeble, that hee is moved with the least blast of temptation, and if it grow more violent, is not only shaken, but quite bowed and bruised by it, as this in my Text.

Bruised. A reed, as I have shewed, is an embleme of fraile man; but a bruised reed seemeth to mee a proper embleme of a Christian: the Motto or word you have in John the 16. Ver. 33. In mundo pressuram habebitis: In the world you shall have, word for word, bruising, that is, grievances, and brui­ses, or pressures, some inward, some outward, some in the body, some in the soule, some from the yoke of Tyrants, some from the burthen of your sinnes, Aust. Serm. de temp. some from the weight of Gods judgements. Whereunto S. Austin sweetly alluding, saith, The fairest and ripest grapes are pressed, that they may yeeld their sweetest juice. The hint of which conceit he may seeme to have taken from Saint Cyprian: Cypr. ep. ad Mart. Vos de vinea domini pingues racemi, & jam maturi fructi­bus botri pres­sure secularis infestatione calcatae, torcu­lar vestium carcere tot quente sentitis, vini vice san­guinem fundi­tis. Yee are goodly branches of the true Vine, hang'd with clusters of ripe grapes; secular persecution is your treading upon and pressing, your wine-presse is the prison, and in stead of wine, your bloud is drawne from you. The hony-combes are pressed and bruised, to squeeze out of them the thickest hony; the ripe and full eares are smitten and brui­sed with the flaile, to beat the corne out of them: the rich Ore is beat and bruised in the stamping mils, and afterwards tried by fire, before there come of it precious and pure metall: the corne is bruised and ground to make flowre. Whereunto the blessed Martyr Hier in catal. Christi fru­mentum sum, dentibus bellu­arum molar, ut panis mundus inveniar. Ignatius fitly resembling the death whereby he was then to glorifie God, when hee heard the hungry Lyons roaring for their prey, and gaping wide to devoure him, said, I am Christs corne, and straight-waies shall be ground with the teeth of beasts, that I may be served in as fine manchet at his table in heaven. When the hottest spices are bruised and brayed in the mortar, they yeeld a most fragrant smell; and a boxe of oyntment, after that it is broken, sweetly perfumeth the whole roome: Even so those prayers and meditations are most fervent and fragrant in the nostrils of Almighty God, which rise from a bruised spirit, and a broken and contrite heart, through inward and outward afflicti­on. It is the proper evill and (if I may so speake) misery of earthly hap­pinesse, that it maketh the heart fat, and dulleth and deadeth the spirits of zeale and devotion: and contrariwise, it is a kinde of happinesse which misery bringeth, Hos. 5.15. In their affliction they will seeke mee early. that it quickens us, and maketh us seeke diligently after God.

In their affliction they will seeke me Or early, Hos. 5.15. diligently. When by any grievous fit of sicknesse, or great losse, or sore wound in our reputation, wee are touched to the quicke, then we begin to be sensible of our own infirmities, and compassionate of other mens calamities; then we offer up prayers with [Page 5] strong cryes; then, like bowed and bruised reeds, we fall flat downe to the ground, then our hearts swell with griefe, and our eyes are bigge with teares, and if Gods hand lye very heavie and long upon us, wee bid defi­ance to all worldly pleasures and comforts, which faile us in our greatest extremity: we grow weary of this life, and in our desires run to meet death the halfe way, and sigh, and mourn, and pine away till we be quite dissolved, that we may be with Christ. In regard of these and such like wholsome fruits, which meeknesse and patience gather from the crosse, I dare undertake to make good that seeming Paradox of Demetrius concerning evils, Nihil eo infoelicius, cui nihil infoelix contigit; None is so miserable as hee who in this life never tasted any misery: For, besides that continuall pleasures glut his senses, and his very happinesse cloyeth him, hee wanteth many im­provements of his wisedome, many trials of his faith, Apoc. 3.19. Prov. 3.12. Heb. 12.5. many exercises of his patience, many incentives of his zeale, many preservatives against sin; and, which weigheth all downe, many arguments of Gods love towards him, and care over him. If the Schoolmasters eye bee alwaies upon his Schollar to observe him, if hee still checke and correct him for his faults, it is a signe he beareth a singular affection to him, and hath a speciall care o­ver him; but if he let him loyter and play the trewant, and abuse his fel­lowes, and never call him to an account for it, it is evident thereby, that he intendeth to leave, or hath already left the tuition of him. In like manner, whiles the Physician prescribes to his patient unpleasing diet and bitter potions, and is ever trying some medicine or other upon him, the friends of the sicke are in good hope; but when the Physician leaves prescribing physicke, and forbids his patient nothing that he hath a mind unto, though hee grow still worse and worse, then all that are about him take on grie­vously, and shed teares in secret, as knowing well that their friend is given over by the Doctor for desperate. Which Saint Bernard seriously con­sidering, delivereth this strange, yet most true Aphorisme, Illi verè irascitur Deus, cui non irascitur: God is angry indeed with him, Quem enim in presenti non emendat, in fu­turo condem­nat. to whom hee showes it not by rebuking and chastening him for his sinne. For whom hee mends not by chastening in this world, hee certainly purpo­seth to condemne in the other: This is a ruled case in Divinity, Dives is a president for it.

If things stand thus in this world, let no Christian flatter himselfe with a vaine hope of uninterrupted prosperity, and unmixed joyes in this life: Invicem cedunt dolor & voluptas, pleasures and sorrowes have their turns; as sorrowes end in joyes, so joyes in sorrowes. There is a cup of trem­bling which cannot passe, but first or last we must taste of it: & sith we must; let us looke for it, and when it comes to us, chearfully off with it; the ra­ther, because our Lord and Saviour hath begun in it deep unto us. O yee Favourites, and (if I may so speake) Minions of Fortune, who are driven with a prosperous gale, and beare a lofty saile, swelling with the pride of a high minde, strike saile in time, looke soone for a bit­ter Hieron. ad He­lod. Licet in modum stagni fusum aequor arrideat, licet vix summa ja­centis ele­menti spiritu terga crispen­tur, magnos hic campus mon­tes haber, tranquillitas ista tempestas est. storme: Though the smooth sea smile upon thee, and seeme to bee no other than a standing poole, though the top of the water by the wind bee not so much as cast into bubbles, like the curles of thy haire, trust not the deep; the plaine thou seest hath many mountaines in it, [Page 6] the present calme will prove in the end a tempest: or else assure thy self thou sailest not in Christs ship; for that was tossed in the sea, and even covered with waves, Matth. 8.24. yet not drowned: ‘Jactatur, nunquam mergitur ista ratis.’

How should the ship be drowned or cast away upon the rockes, wherein Christ is the Pilot, the Scripture the Card, his Crosse the maine Mast, his promises, Matth. 28.20 Matth. 16.18. ( I will be with you to the end of the world, and, Hell gates shall not prevaile against it) the Anchors, his holy Spirit the Wind? This maketh the Church bold, not onely to checke and represse the insolency of her ene­mies, Micah 7.8. saying, Rejoyce not against me, O mine enemy, though I fall I shall rise; when I sit in darknesse, the Lord shall be a light unto me: but also glory in the Lord, Psal. 129.1. and insult over them, saying, Many a time have they afflicted mee from my youth up, Rom. 8.37. but they have not prevailed against me: Nay, In all things we are more than Conquerours, through him that loved us. David often har­peth upon this sweet string, Psal. 118.18. The Lord hath chastened mee sore, but hee hath not given me over unto death: Psal. 37.24. the righteous falleth, yet shall not be utterly cast downe. What an excellent harmony doth St. Paul make of seeming dis­cords! 2 Cor. 4 8 9. [...], Wee are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not altogether without meanes; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast downe, but not destroyed: that is (to set the Prophets ditty to the Apostles tune) Wee are continually bruised, yet not broken. Hee shall not breake.

I fore-see what you may object, That many of Gods servants, and Christs souldiers have had their flesh torn with whips, their joynts hewen asunder, their bones broken on the racke, and sometimes ground to pow­der with the teeth of wilde beasts; nay, their whole body burnt to ashes, and these ashes cast into the river: Fox in Martyrol. Crispine H [...]tor. Wald Aeneas S [...] de gilt. Concil. Basil. how say we then, the bruised reed is ne­ver broken, nor the smoaking flaxe quenched?

For this blow we have a foure-fold ward:

1. We are to understand, that Gods promises of delivering his Saints are principally and simply to be taken of their eternall deliverance; but of tem­porall secondarily, and conditionally, as it standeth with his glory, and their greater good.

2. We are to note, that many of the promises above mentioned concern the entire body of the Church, not every particular member. The bruised reed may be broken in some part, yet not through the whole: Tyrants may waste and destroy the Church partially, but not totally, for the reasons in­timated by Tertullian and S. Leo, Tertulan apolog. Sanguis Mar­tyrum semen Evangelii. Leo serm. Grana quae singula cadunt multi­plicata nascun­tut. because the bloud of Martyrs spilt upon the ground is like spirituall seed, from whence spring up new Martyrs: and the graines of corne which fall one by one, and die in the earth, rise up again in great numbers. Persecution serveth the Church in such stead, as pruning doth the Vine, whereby her branches shoot forth farther, and beare more fruit. Therefore S. Hierome excellently compareth the militant Church, burning still in some part in the heat of persecution, and yet flourishing, to the bush in Exodus, Exod 3.2. out of which Gods glory shined to Moses, which bur­ned, yet consumed not.

3. Wee are to distinguish between corporall and spirituall destruction: Though the cane be crushed to peeces, yet the aire in the hollow of it is [Page 7] not hurt; though the tree be hewen, the beame of the Sun shining upon it is not cut or parted in sunder. Feare not them, saith our Saviour, Matth. 10.28. which can kill the body, but are not able to kill the soule. Could the Philosopher say, tun­dis vasculum: Anaxarchi, non Anaxarchum, Thou beatest the vessel, or strikest the coffin of Anaxarchus, not Anaxarchus himselfe, O Tyrant? Shall not a Christian with better reason say to his tormentors, Yee breake the boxe, ye spill not any of the oyntment; ye violate the casket, ye touch not the jewell? neither have yee so much power as utterly and perpetually to de­stroy the casket (viz.) my body; for though it be beat to dust, and ground to powder, yet shall it be set together againe, and raised up at the last day, Philip. 3.21. and made conformable to Christs glorious body by the power of God, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himselfe.

4. And lastly, it is not here said simply the bruised reed shall not be bro­ken, but shall not be broken by him, He shall not breake the bruised reed.

He shall not breake: for hee came not to destroy, but to save; Luk 9.56. Esay 53.4. Mat. 27.30. And they took a reed and smote him on the head. not to bur­then, but to ease; not to lay load upon us, but to carry all our sorrowes; not to breake the bruised reed, but rather to have reeds broken upon him, where­with he was smote. Plin. nat. hist. l. 11. Icti à scor­bionibus nun­quam postea à crabronibus, vespis, apibusve feriuntur. Pliny observeth, that those that are strucken by Scor­pions, are ever after priviledged from the stings of Waspes or Bees. The beasts that were torne or hurt by any accident, might not bee sacrificed or eaten. It is more than enough to bee once or singly miserable: whereupon he in the Greeke Poet passionately pleades against further molestation, ‘ [...].’ For Gods sake disease not a diseased man, presse not a dying man with more weight. Which because the enemies of David had the hard hearts to doe, he most bitterly cursed them: Poure out thine indignation upon them, Psal. 69.24, 25, 26. and let thy wrathfull anger take hold of them; let their habitation be desolate, and let none dwell in their tents: for they persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and talke to the griefe of those whom thou hast wounded. O how grievously doth S. Cyprian complaine against the inhumane cruelty of the persecutors of Christians in his time, who laid stripes upon stripes, Cypr. epist. ad Mart. In servis Dei non tor­quebantur membra, sed vulnera. and inflicted wounds upon sores, and tortured not so much the members of Gods servants, as their bleeding wounds! Verily for this cause alone God commanded, that the name of Exod. 17.14. Amaleck should be blotted out from under heaven, because they met Israel by the way when they were faint, and smote the feeble among them. For not to comfort the afflicted, not to help a man that is hurt, not to seeke to hold life in one that is swouning, is inhumanity; but contrarily, to afflict the afflicted, to hurt the wounded, to trouble the grieved in spirit, Cic. pro Celio. sua sponte ca­dentem maturiùs extinguere vulnere, to strike the breath out of a mans bo­dy who is giving up the ghost, to breake a reed already bruised, to insult upon a condemned man, to vexe him that is broken in heart, and adde sor­row to sorrow, Oh this is cruelty upon cruelty; farre be it from any Chri­stian to practise it, and yet further from his thoughts, to cast any such a­spersion upon the Father of mercy. How should the God of all consolation drive any poore soule to desperation? hee that will not breake a bruised reed, will he despise a broken heart? He that will not quench the smoaking flaxe, will he quench his Spirit, and tread out the sparkes of his grace in our soules? No, no, his Father sealed to him another commission, Esay 61.1. to preach [Page 8] good tidings to the meeke, Luk. 4.18. to binde up the broken hearted, to set at liber­ty them that are bruised, to give unto them that mourne in Sion beauty for ashes, the oyle of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heavinesse. And accordingly hee sent by his Prophet a comfortable mes­sage to the daughter of Sion, Matth. ex Zach. Tell her, behold the King commeth unto thee meeke, and riding upon an Asse: a bruised reed he shall not breake, hee did not breake; and smoaking flaxe hee shall not quench, hee did not quench. Was not Peter a bruised reed when hee fell upon the rocke of offence, and thrice denied his Master, and went out and wept bitterly? Was not Paul like smoaking flaxe in the worst sense, when he breathed out threats against the Church, and sought by all violent meanes to smother the new light of the Gospel? yet we all see what a burning and shining lampe Christ hath made of this smoaking flaxe: what a noble cane to write the everlasting mercies of God to all posterity he hath made of the other, a bruised reed: But what speake I of bruised reeds not broken? the Jewes that crucified the Lord of life, the Roman souldier that pierced his side, were liker sharp pointed darts than bruised reeds; yet some of these were saved from brea­king. Such is the vertue of the bloud of our Redeemer, that it cleansed their hands that were imbrued in the effusion thereof, if they afterward touch it by faith: so infinite is the value of his death, that it was a satis­faction even for them who were authors of it, and saved some of the mur­therers of their Saviour, as St. Cypr. epist. Vi­vificatur Chri­sti sanguine eti­am qui effudit sanguinem Christi. Cyprian most comfortably deduceth out of the second of the Acts: They are quickned by Christs bloud who spilt it. Well therefore might St. Bern. Quid tam ad mor­tem, quod non Christi morte sanetur. Bernard demand, What is so deadly which Christs death cannot heale? Comfort then, O comfort the fainting spirits, and strengthen the feeble knees, revive the spirit of the humble, raise up the prostrate and dejected soule. Be of good cheere ye that have received the sentence of death in your selves. There is no malady of the soule so deadly, against which the death of Christ is not a soveraigne remedy; there is no sore so great nor so festering, which a plaster of Christs bloud will not cleanse and heale, if it be thereto applyed by a lively faith.

Thus, as you see, I have made of the bruised reed a staffe of comfort for a drouping conscience to stay it selfe upon; extend but your patience to the length of the houre, and I will make of it a strait rule for your actions and affections. Though all the actions of our Saviour are beyond example, yet ought they to be examples to us for our imitation; and though we can ne­ver overtake him, yet we ought to follow after him. His life is a perfect samplar of all vertues, out of which if we ought to take any flower, espe­cially this of meeknesse, which himselfe hath pricked out for us, saying, Learne of me that I am meeke and lowly in heart, Matth. 11.29. and you shall finde rest to your soules, which also hee richly setteth forth with a title of blessednesse over it, Matth. 5.5. and a large promise of great possessions by it; Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth: Matth. 5.7. Blessed are the mercifull, for they shall ob­taine mercy. Neither is this vertue more acceptable in the sight of God, than agreeable to the nature of man. Witnesse our sleek and soft skin with­out scales or roughnesse; witnesse our harmlesse members without hornes, clawes, or stings, the offensive weapons of other creatures; witnesse our tender and relenting heart, apt to receive the least impression of griefe; [Page 9] witnesse our moist eyes, ready to shed teares upon any sad accident:

Shall not grace imprint that vertue in our soules, which nature hath ex­pressed in the chiefe members of our bodies, and exemplified in the best creatures almost in every kind? Even among beasts, the tamest and gen­tlest are the best; the master Bee either hath no sting at all, or (as Aristotle testifieth) never useth it. The upper region of the ayre is alwaies calme and quiet, inferiora fulminant, saith Seneca, men of baser and inferiour na­tures are boysterous and tempestuous: The superiour spheres move regularly, and uniformly, and the first mover of them all is slow in his proceedings against rebellious sinners; hee was longer in destroying Jericho, than in creating the whole world. And when Adam and Eve had sinned with a high hand, reaching the forbidden fruit, and eating it, it was the coole of the evening before the voice of the Lord was heard in the garden, and the voice that was heard, was of God walking, not running: to verifie those many attributes of God, Mercifull, gracious, long-suffering, Exod. 34.6, 7. and aboundant in goodnesse and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sinne.

Is God mercifull, and shall man be cruell? is the master meek and milde, and shall the servant be fierce and furious? shall hee give the Lambe in his Scutchion, and they the Lion? If hee who ruleth the Nations with a rod of iron, and breaketh them in pieces like a potters vessell, will not breake the bruised reed, shall reeds breake reeds? Martial. Epigr. The Heathen Poet giving charge to his woodden god to looke to his garden, useth this commination, See thou looke well to my trees, Alioqui & ipse lignum es, Otherwaies know that thou art wood thy selfe, that is, fit fuell for the fire. Suffer, I beseech you, the word of exhortation; Looke to it that you breake not Christs bruised reeds, Alioqui & ipsi estis arundines, Otherwaies know that you your selves are but reeds, and what measure you mete unto others, shall be mea­sured unto you againe. Stand not too much upon your owne Sen. de clem. l. 1. Nec est quisquam cui tam valde inno­centia sua pla­ceat, ut non stare in con­spectu clemen­tiam paratam humanis erro­ribus gaudeat. innocency and integrity: For, August. confes. l. 13. Vae lauda­bili vitae homi­num, si remot â misericordiâ di­scutias cam. Wo be to the commendable life of men, if it bee searcht into without mercy, and scann'd exactly. The Cherubins themselves conti­nually looke towards the Mercy-seat: and if we expect mercy at the hands of God or man, we must show mercy; for there shall be judgement without mercy, to him that will shew no mercy: which menacing to the unmercifull, though it point to the last judgement, and then take it's full effect, yet to deterre men from this unnaturall sinne against their owne bowels, it plea­seth God sometimes in this life to make even reckonings with hard hearted men, and void of all compassion. As he did with Appius, Livius dec. 1. of whom Livie re­porteth, that he was a great oppressor of the liberties of the commons, and particularly that hee tooke away all appeales to the people in case of life and death. But see how Justice revenged Mercies quarrell upon this unmercifull man; soone after this his decree, hee being called in question for forcing the wife of Virginius, he found all the Bench of Judges against him, and was constrained for saving his life to preferre an appeale to the people, which was denied him with great shouts and out-cries of all, say­ing, [Page 10] Ecce provocat, qui provocationem sustulit; who sees not the hand of di­vine Justice herein? He is forced to appeale, who by barring all appeales in case of life and death, was the death of many a man. Let his owne measure be returned upon him. And as Appius was denied the benefit of appeales, whereof he deprived others, and immediatly felt the stroke of justice; so Eutropius, who gave the Emperour counsell to shut up all Sanctuaries a­gainst capitall offenders, afterwards being pursued himselfe for his life, and flying to a Sanctuary for refuge, was from thence drawne out by the com­mand of S. Chrysostome, and delivered to the ministers of justice, who made him feele the smart of his owne pernicious counsell. I need the lesse speake for mercy, by how much the more wee all need it: and therefore I passe from the act to the proper subject of mercy, The bruised reed. If Sen. de cle. l. 1. Tam omnibus ignoscere cru­delitas est quam nulli. Jude ver. 22. mercy should be shewed unto all men, no place would be left for justice; therefore St. Jude restraineth mercy to some, Of some have compassion, ma­king a difference. The difference we are to make is of

• 1. Sinne.
• 2. Sinners.

For there are sinnes of ignorance, and sinnes against conscience; sinnes of infirmity, and sinnes of presumption; sudden passions, and deliberate evill actions; light staines, and fowle spots: some sinnes are secret and private, others publike and scandalous; some silent, others crying; some prejudi­ciall only to the delinquent, others pernicious to the Church and Com­mon-wealth. For the former, mercy often intercedeth, seldome or never for the latter.

Againe, some offenders are like Eras. Adag. [...]. heart of oake; which many strong blowes of an axe will scarce enter; others like the Balsamum of Judea, which you kill if you Plin. nat. hist. l. 12. c. 25. Inci­ditur vitro, la­pide, osleisve cultellis, fertum odit, laesis vita­libus emoritur, protenus inci­dentis manus libratur artifici temperamen­to, ne quid ul­tra corticem violet. touch but the rine of it with an iron instrument: and therfore they which keep them, provide instruments of glasse, or knives of bone to prune them. The former resemble the Adamant, which can bee cut or pointed by nothing but an Adamant; the latter the Solinus c 40. tit Euphrates. Pyrrhites tene­ri se vehemen­tiu, non per­mittit ac si quando arctio­re manu pre­mitur, digitos adurit. Pyrrhite, a pre­cious stone, which may be gently ground or cut with a sharpe toole, but if you presse it hard, or handle it rudely, it burneth the fingers. For the lat­ter mercy sometimes intercedeth, not so for the former. Lastly, after the offence committed, some are like bruised reeds, falling downe upon the earth, and imploring mercy: Others like a stiffe or strait cane, never so much as bowing; some stand in defence of that they have done, others ingenu­ously confesse their fault; some glory in their sinne, others are confounded with it: in a word, some are obstinate, some are penitent; those mercy dis­claimeth, these shee often taketh to her protection. They who in former times like pipes of reeds have sweetly sounded out the praises of God, but now are cracked with some pardonable errour in judgement, or slip in man­ners, if they be truely bruised with the weight of their sinne, and through­ly contrite, may plead the priviledge of the bruised reed in my Text, not to bee broken by any over hard and severe censure or sentence, not the Atheisticall scoffer, not the impudent Adulterer, not the obstinate Recu­sant, not Jesuited Papists, which like the Egyptian reeds mentioned by the Prophet, run Esa. 36.6. Thou trustest in the staffe of this bro­ken reed, on E­gypt, whereon if a man leane, it will goe into his hand, and pierce it. into the hands and sides even of Jaques Cle­ment, and Ra [...]i­liac, who murde­red two late Fren [...]h Kings, Henr. 3. & 4. See Pierre Matthew, and other French Historians. Kings and Princes. They who have formerly shined before their brethren, both in their pure doctrine [Page 11] and good example, though now by the violent blast of some fearfull temp­tation, are blowne out as it were, and send up bitter fumes of sorrowfull lamentations for their sinfull iniquity or impurity, in some cases are not to be quenched; what therefore are not hereticall apostataes, and schismaticall boutefieus and fire-brands of Church and State, not to bee quenched and trode out, which if they be not quenched in time, will set all in a combusti­on in the end?

To conclude, as I began, with the words of my Text; it is the bruised reed that is not to be broken, not the poysoned dart; it is the smoaking flaxe that is not to be quenched, not the burning match. A bruised reed he shall not breake. Behold in the reed your frailty, in the bruised reed your condi­tion; in the not breaking the bruised reed, a singular rule for your directi­on, of which I spake but now, and a strong staffe of comfort, of which before.

God grant that wee may all acknowledge our frailty, as being no other than reeds, and to arme our selves with patience against manifold pressures and tribulations, as being reeds that are or shall bee bruised; and when wee are afflicted or oppressed, not to despaire of helpe and ease, but to trust in Gods mercy, and hope for a joyfull deliverance, as bruised reeds that yet are not to be broken: and lastly, expecting mercy for our selves, shew mercy with discretion unto others, as being reeds, therefore not broken, that we may learne by the example of our Lord and Master not to break the bruised reed. To whom, &c.

THE SMOAKING FLAXE. A Sermon preached at Lambeth before his Grace, the Lord Bishop of London, and other his Majesties Commissioners in causes Ecclesiasticall, Decemb. 5. 1618. THE SECOND SERMON.

THe sweet temper, and gracious disposition of our bles­sed Redeemer, is as the sap in the root, which conveyeth life to the two branches of this Scripture. For by it the d [...]y and bruised reed is nourished, as with moisture sup­plyed; and the smoaking flaxe and dying lampe is refre­shed, as it were with oyle: That, he will not break, this, he will not quench.

Luk. 4.18.He, who came to heale the broken hearted, and set at liberty them that are bruised, will not breake the bruised reed. Hee, who was sent to give light to them that sit in darknesse, Luk. 1.79. [...]. ita 70 Interp. Esay 53 4. and in the shadow of death, will not quench the smoaking flaxe, or dimly burning weeke. He, who bare all our infirmities, and carried our sorrowes, will not lay too heavie a burthen upon those that are truely humbled, but will so lightly passe over their sinnes, that he will not breake or crush in pieces the bruised reed, nor tread out the smoaking flaxe.

This Text speaketh peace and much comfort, yet not to all, but to the contrite soule only. Matth. 27.30. The bruised and soft reed shall not be broken, but the stiffe and hard reed, like that wherewith Christ was smitten, shall be bro­ken. They who after their sinnes committed relent not at all, they who are not troubled in conscience, nor crushed with feare of judgement, but stand in justification of their sinnes, and excuse their prophane sports on the Lords day, saying, they use but lawfull recreations, and their defiling the flesh, by pretending that it is but a tricke of youth, and their drunken­nesse, [Page 13] that it is but good fellowship, and their sacriledge, that it is the cu­stome to pay no more; and cover other vices with the like cloakes, may challenge no interest in this promise: but the bruised reed, that is, the con­trite sinner, he who is displeased with himselfe, because he hath displeased his gracious God; he whose spirit grieveth, because he hath grieved Gods holy Spirit; he who because he hath done that which God abhorreth, ab­horreth himselfe in dust and ashes; hee who when God chasteneth him for his sinnes, kisseth his heavenly Fathers rod, and acknowledgeth that hee deserveth farre smarter blowes than those which yet hee feeles; hee who goeth mourning all the day long, and will never be at peace with himselfe, till hee hath made his peace with his Maker; hee who alwaies feeling the weight of his sinnes, sigheth and groaneth under them, and never ceaseth to offer up prayers to God with strong cries, till hee be eased of them. Are wee such bruised reeds? We often in stead of denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts, have with Peter denied our Master; but doe wee weep bit­terly with him, and (as hee) whensoever hee heard the Cocke crow after the deniall of his Master, fell on weeping afresh; so, doe the wounds of our consciences bleed afresh at the sight of every object, and hearing of every sound, which puts us in mind of our crimson sinnes? We have polluted our beds with David, but doe wee cleanse them as he did? doe wee make our couches to swimme with teares of repentance? Wee have intertained with Mary Magdalen many soule sinnes, like so many uncleane spirits; but have wee broken a boxe of precious oyntment upon Christs head, or kneeled downe and washed his feet with our teares? If wee have done so, then are we bruised reeds indeed, and shall not be broken; but if otherwayes wee be not bruised in heart for our sinnes, and breake them off by mature repen­tance, wee shall bee either broken for them by sore chastisements in this world, or (which is worst of all) like unfruitfull and rotten trees, be reser­ved to be fuell for Hell fire.

But because the bruised reed was the measure of my former discourse, I will now fall to blow the smoaking flaxe, which Christ will not quench. To quench the light, especially the light of the spirit in our hearts, seemeth to bee a worke of darknesse, how then may it bee ascribed to the Father of lights, or what meaneth the Prophet to deny that Christ will doe that which is so repugnant to his nature, that if he would, he could not doe it? Religiously learned antiquity hath long ago assoyled this doubt, teaching us, that God quencheth as he hardneth, Non infundendo malitiam, sed sub­ducendo gratiam, not by pouring on any thing like water to quench the flame, but by taking away that oyly moisture which nourisheth it. Our daily experience sheweth us, that a lampe or candle may bee extinguished three manner of wayes at least:

• 1. By a violent puffe of winde.
• 2. By the ill condition of the weeke, indisposed to burne.
• 3. By want of waxe, or defect of oyle to feed it.

Even so the light of the Spirit may be quenched in us by three meanes: either by a violent temptation of the evill spirit, as it were a puffe of wind; or by the inbred corruption of our nature, repelling grace, which fitly re­sembleth the indisposition of the week to take fire, or keep in it the flame; [Page 14] or lastly, by subtraction of divine grace, which is the oyle or sweet waxe that maintaineth this light. By the first meanes the Divell, by the second man himselfe, by the third God quencheth the light of the spirit in them who love darknesse more than light; but such are not those, who in my Text are compared to smoaking flaxe. For though they have small light of knowledge to shine to others, yet they have heat of devotion burning in themselves: Hil. In haec ver­ba igniculum fidei concipi­entes, & qua­dam dilectione cum carne, jux­ta fumantes quos Christus non extinxit, sed incendit in iis ignem per­fectae charita­tis. they are such, saith St. Hilary, Who conceiving in themselves a small sparke of faith, because they are in part still flesh, burne not cleerly, but as it were smoakily, whom Christ will not quench, but kindle in them the fire of perfect charity. St. Greg. in Evan. Dom. Quod sa­cerdotes lineis uterentur ve­stibus. Gregory by smoaking flaxe understandeth the Aaronicall Priesthood now dimly burning, and ready to go out, he thinketh the flaxe to have some reference to the Priests linnen garments made of it. Tertullian paraphraseth the smoaking flaxe, Momentaneum gentium fervo­rem, The momentary fervour of the Gentiles, in whom the light of nature by sinfull filthinesse being extinct, exhaleth most pestiferous fumes of noysome lusts. St. Chrysost. in Matth. ca. 2. [...]. Chrysostome and St. Austin through the smoake discerne the Scribes and Pharisees, and other enemies of Christ, their envie and malice which soultred within them, but brake not out into an open flame. Whom Christ quenched not, that is, destroyed not, though he could have as easily done it, as breake a reed already bruised, or tread out a stinking snuffe cast upon the ground. But these expositions in the judgement of later Divines seem either constrained and forced, or at the lest too much restrained and narrow. They therfore extend the meaning of them to all weak Christians, either newly converted or relapsed, Pintus. In quibus tamen relucet aliquid bonae spei. Junius. Scintilla aliqua pietatis veluti moribunda. Aquinas. Tepidi ad opus bonum, habentes tamen aliquid gratiae. Arboreus. Extinctioni vicini. Guilliandus. Qui sceleribus gra­vissimis, seu fumo quodam oculos bonorum offendunt, & veluti foetore cor­ruptae famae mores piorum infestant: Breathing out bitter fumes for their sinnes, offending the godly with the ill savour of their lives, luke-warm to good workes, neere extinction, in whom yet remaines some light of faith and hope, though very obscure, some warmth of charity, some sparke of grace. Comfort then, O comfort the fainting spirits, and cheare up the drouping conscience, say to the bruised reed that is now unfit to make a pipe to sound, or a cane to write the praises of God, thou shalt not be broken; and to the smoaking flaxe, which gives but a very dimme light, and with the fume offendeth the eyes of the godly, and with the stench their noses, thou shalt not bee quenched. Nothing is so easie as to breake a reed already bruised, the least weight doth it; nothing so facile as to quench smoaking flaxe, the least touch doth it: yet so milde was our Saviour, that he never brake the one, nor quenched the other. The flaxe or weeke smoaketh, either before it is fully kindled, or after it is blowne out. If we consider it in the first condi­tion, the morall or spirituall meaning of the Text is, that Christ cherisheth the weake endeavours, and small beginnings of grace in his children. For we must know, that in our first conversion the measure of grace is but small in us, and mixt with much corruption, which if Christ should quench, there would be found never a cleere burning lampe in his Church; but hee most graciously preserveth it, and augmenteth it, because it is a sparke from hea­ven kindled by his owne spirit: and it much illustrateth his glory, to keep it [Page 15] from going out, notwithstanding the indisposition of the weeke to burne, and continuall blasts of temptation ready to blow it out. I said in my haste, quoth David, I am cast out of thy sight: there is smoake in the flaxe, Psal. 31.22. yet was not the flaxe quenched; for he addeth, yet thou heardest the voice of my prayer. Jonas in like manner cries, I am cast out of thy sight: Jonah 2.4. there is smoak in the flaxe, yet was not the flaxe quenched; for he addeth immediatly, yet I will looke againe to thy holy Temple. If thou wilt, thou canst, Matth. 8.2. said one poore man in the Gospel. Lord, if thou canst, said another; Marke 9.22. both these were as the smoaking flaxe in my Text. For the former doubted of Gods power, the latter of his will, yet neither of both were quenched. O miserable man that I am, saith S. Paul, in the person of a Christian travelling in his new birth, who shall deliver me from this body of death? here is a cloud of smoak, Rom. 7.24.25. yet it is blown away in an instant, and the flame breaketh out, and blazeth into Gods praises; Thankes be unto God, who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ. Man for a little smoake will quench the light; but Christ eve­ry where cherisheth the least sparke of grace, and bloweth it gently by his spirit, till it breake forth into a flame. To encourage us the more, hee ac­cepteth the will for the deed, and a good assay for the performance. If thou canst but shed a teare for thy sins, he hath a bottle to put it in; if thou steale a sigh in secret, he hath an eare for it; if thy faith be but as a graine of mu­stard seed, it shall grow to a great tree. Nathanael at the first had but a small ground to beleeve that Christ should bee the Messias; but after­wards Christ made good his words unto him, hee saw greater things to build his faith upon: Because I said unto thee, John 1.50. I saw thee under the fig-tree, beleevest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. Apollos at the first was but catechized in Johns Baptisme, Act. 18.27.28. but afterwards Aquila and Priscilla expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly, and hee helped them much which had beleeved through grace: for hee mightily convicted the Jewes, and that publikely, shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ. Joseph of Arimathea, richer in grace than wealth, and a great dispreader of the Gospel, and (as many ancient Writers report) the first planter of Christian Religion in this Island, yet till Christs death had small courage to professe him; but when the evening was come, Mar. 15.42.43. which was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, hee went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. Saint Augustine at the first was drawne to the Church by the lustre of Saint Ambrose his elo­quence, as himselfe Aug. confess. l. 5. c. 4. confesseth: but afterwards he was much more taken with the strength of his proofe, than the ornaments of his speech; and God by his Spirit so blowed the sparke of divine knowledge in this smoaking flaxe, that the Church of God never saw a cleerer lamp burning in it since it had him.

If we consider the smoaking flaxe in the second condition, to wit, after the lampe is blowne out, the spirituall meaning is, That those in whom there was ever any spark of saving grace, shall never be quenched; or that after the most fearfull blast of temptation, there remaines yet some divine fire in the heart of every true beleever, which Christ will never quench. Christ will not quench the smoaking flaxe, if there bee any sparke of divine fire in it: yet if this sparke bee not blowne, and the weeke enlightened againe, it [Page 16] will dye; in like manner if wee doe not according to the Apostles pre­cept, 2 Tim. 1.6. [...], stirre up the grace of God in us, and use the utmost of our religious endeavours to kindle againe the lampe of faith in our soules, that sparke of divine faith and saving grace which wee con­ceive that wee have, will dye. As it is not presumption, but faith, to bee confident in Gods promises when wee walke in his Ordi­nances; so it is not faith, but presumption, to assure our selves of the end, when wee neglect the meanes of our salvation. Wee may no otherwise apprehend or apply unto our selves the gracious pro­mises made to all true beleevers in the Gospel, than they are pro­pounded unto us, which is not absolutely, but upon conditions by us to bee performed through the helpe of divine grace, namely, to wash our selves, Esa. 1.16, 17. to make us cleane, to put away the evill of our do­ings from before Gods eyes, to cease to doe evill, to learne to doe well, to seeke judgement, to relieve the oppressed, to judge the father­lesse, Dan. 4.27. Job 41. [...]. Apoc. 3.19. Mat. 3.8. and to pleade for the widow, to breake off our sinnes by righ­teousnesse, and our iniquity by shewing mercy to the poore, to abhorre our selves, and repent in dust and ashes, to remember from whence wee are fallen, and doe our first workes, to bee zealous and amend, and to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. To argue from a strong perswasion of our election, and from thence to inferre im­mediately assurance of salvation, is, as Tertullian speaketh in another case, aedificare in ruinam. The safe way to build our selves in our most holy faith, and surely fasten the anchor of our hope, is to con­clude from amendment of life, repentance unto life: from our hatred of sinne, Gods love unto us: from hunger and thirst after righte­ousnesse, some measure of grace: from godly sorrow and sonne-like feare, and imitation of our heavenly Father, the adoption of sonnes: from continuall growth in grace, perseverance to the end: from the fruits of charity, the life of our faith: and from all, a modest assu­rance of our election unto eternall life. Not curiously to dispute the Scholasticall question concerning the absolute impossibilitie of the apostacy of any Saint, and the amissibility of justifying faith, which many learned Doctours of the Reformed Churches hold fitter to bee extermined than determined, or at least confined to the Schooles, than defined in the Pulpit: that wherein all parties agree is sufficient to comfort the fainting spirits, and strengthen the feeble knees of any relapsed Christian; That God will never bee wanting to raise him, if hee bee not wanting to himselfe. But if when hee is returned, with the Sow to his wallowing in the mire, hee taketh delight therein, and never striveth to plucke his feet out of it, nor rise up out of the dirt, if hee never cry for helpe, nor so much as put forth the hand of his faith, that Christ may take hold of it, and by effectuall grace draw him out of the mudde: hee will certainly putrifie in his sinnes. Hee that heareth the Word of God preached, and assenteth there­unto, and is most firmly perswaded of Gods love to him for the present, if through the rebellion of the flesh against the spirit, or the suggestions of Sathan, or by the wicked counsels and examples [Page 17] of others, hee chargeth himselfe with any foule sinne, either of impiety against God, or iniquity against men, or impurity against his owne body, doth not his conscience tell him, that God is highly displeased with him? doth hee not feele the effects of his wrath in his soule, and oftentimes in his body and estate also? and if the hand of God upon him bring him not to a sight, and a sense, and an acknowledgement, and a detestation also of his sinne, dare any man secure his salvation? On the contrary, if after his relapse, his heart smite him, and hee feeles the pricke of conscience, if there bee any sparke in the weeke, any bitter fume drawing teares from his eyes, any fervour of zeale, any heate of love in him, any vehement desire of saving grace, though hee receive the sentence of death in himselfe, and breathe out his last gaspe in a disconsolate sigh, and with a lamentable groane; yet none doubteth, but that he may passe even by the gates of Hell into Heaven. There is nothing so easie or frequent, as for a man to slip or fall who walketh upon the ice; and what is this world, compared by Saint John to a sea of glasse, Apoc. 15.2. but slippery ice? in which though they who goe most warily slide often, and receive grievous falls; yet they may take such hold on the one side upon the promises of God, Jer. 31.40. (I will not turne away from them to doe them good, but I will put my feare in their hearts, that they shall not depart from mee:) and on the other side upon Christs praier, (I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not) that they fall not ir­recoverably, or so dangerously, as that they dye of their fall. Luke 22.31. For whose comfort in their fearfullest conflicts with dispaire, I will lay such grounds of confidence, as will amount to a hope that maketh not ashamed, and at least to a morall assurance of the recovery of their for­mer estate.

In the ninth of Proverbs and the first, wee have a description of a house built by Wisedome: Prov. 9.1. Wisedome, saith hee, hath built her an house, shee hath hewen out her seven pillars. By this house, albeit some of the Ancients understand the incarnation of the Sonne of God, who is the Wisedome of his Father, and might bee said then to build him an house, when hee framed a body to himselfe; yet may it bee applyed to the spirituall house, which every Christian buildeth by faith upon the rocke Christ Jesus; for as that, so this standeth upon seven pillars:

• 1. The constancy of Gods love in Christ.
• 2. The certainty of his decrees.
• 3. The truth of his promises.
• 4. The power of regenerating grace.
• 5. The efficacy of Christs prayer and intercession for all Belee­vers.
• 6. The safegard of the Almighties protection.
• 7. The testimony of the true ancient Church, which the Apostle him­selfe graceth with the title of the pillar and ground of truth.

The first pillar to support this building is the constancy of Gods love to all that are in Christ; which may be thus hewen to our purpose. They upon [Page 18] whom God setteth such an especiall affection in Christ, that hee maketh a covenant of peace, and entreth into a contract of marriage with them, can never bee cast utterly out of favour, much lesse grow into eternall hatred and detestation, in such sort that they become the objects of endlesse mi­sery, and subjects of everlasting malediction. For this kindnesse, whereby the Lord our Redeemer hath mercy on us, Esa. 1.54.8. With everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Re­deemer. Ver. 10. The mountains shal depart, and the [...]ls be remo­ved, but my kindnesse shall not depart from thee, neither shall the cove­nant of my peace be remo­ved. is everlasting. The covenant of this peace is immoveable, this contract is indissoluble: Hos. 2.19, 20. I will betroth thee un­to mee for ever; I will betroth thee unto mee in righteousnesse, and in judge­ment, and in loving kindnesse, and in mercies. I will betroth thee unto mee in faithfulnesse, and thou shalt know the Lord. But all true beleevers are embraced with this love, comprised within this covenant, parties in this contract. What then can steale their hearts from Christ, or alienate his love from them? Rom. 8, 35.38. What shal separate them from this love of God in Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakednesse, or pe­rill? No, neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That fire which generateth and produceth its owne fuell can never goe out; and what is the fuell which nourisheth this heavenly flame, but grace and vertue in us, which it selfe continually worketh in all them that are new creatures in Christ? Men affect others because of worth: but contrariwise, Gods affection causeth worth in all who are indeared unto him. All the spirituall beauty they have wherewith he is enamoured, is no other than the reflection and glisening of the beames of his grace, which Heb. 12.2. Looking unto Jesus the be­ginner and fini­sher of our faith. beginneth and consummateth all good in us, Phil. 2.13. For it is God that worketh in us both to will and to doe of his good pleasure. working in us both the wil & the deed. Philosophy teacheth that the celestiall and superiour bodies work upon the terrestriall and inferiour, but not on the contrary. The stormes or calmes in the aire change not the motions or influence of the starres: but contrari­wise the motions, conjunctions and influences of the Starres cause such variety in the ayre and earth. The rayes of the visible Sunne are not moved at all by the motion of the object, but immoveably flow from the body of that Planet; and though blustering windes tyrannize in the ayre, and remove it a thousand times out of its place in an houre, yet they stirre not therewith: in like manner, though our affections are tran­sported with every gale of prosperity and storme of adversity, and our wills somewhat yeeld to every wind of temptation; yet Gods affections, like the beames of the Sunne, remaine immoveable where they are once fixed. Wee play fast and loose even with those often­times to whom wee are bound in the strongest bonds of duty and love; wee praise and dispraise with a breath, frowne and smile with a looke, Esay 55.8. love and hate with a conceit: but Gods affections are not like ours, John 13.1. nor are his thoughts our thoughts. For having loved his owne which were in the world, 2 Tim. 2.13. hee loveth them unto the end: and though we beleeve not, yet hee abideth faithfull; he cannot deny himselfe.

The second pillar is the certainty of Gods decree for the salvation of the Elect; 2 Tim. 2 19. and thus I reare it up. The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seale, The Lord knoweth them that are his. How should hee not know them whom he fore-knew before the world began, and wrote their names [Page 19] in the booke of life? Apoc. 13.8. Phil. 4.3 With my fellow la­bourers, whose names are in the book of life. Exod 28.21. A glorious type whereof was the engraving the names of the twelve Tribes in twelve precious stones, with the point of a Diamond, never to be razed out. To seduce any of the Elect, our Saviours Mat. 24.24. And they shall shew great signes and won­ders, in so much that if it were possible they shall deceive the very Elect. If supposeth it to be impossible, for this were to plucke Christs sheep out of his hand, Joh. 10.28, 29 They shall ne­ver perish, nei­ther shall any man pluck them out of my hand: My Father which gave them [...] is grea­ter than all, and no man is able to plucke them out of my Fa­thers hand. which none can do. All the Elect are those blessed ones on Christs right hand, to whom he shall say at the day of Judgement, Mat. 25.34. Come ye bles­sed of my Father, inherite the kingdome prepared for you before the founda­tion of the world was laid: they are the Church of the first borne, which are written Heb. 12.23. in heaven. Now although all that yeeld their assent to supernatu­rall verities revealed in Scripture, may not presume that their names are written in the booke of life; for Simon Magus beleeved, yet was he in Act. 18.13, 23 the gall of bitternesse, and bond of iniquity: nay the Jam. 2.19. Divels themselves, as St. James teacheth us, beleeve, who are Jude 6. reserved in chaines of dark­nesse, unto the judgement of the great day: yet they who beleeve in God em­brace the promises of the Gospell, with the condition of denying of ungod­linesse, and worldly lusts; and living godly, righteously, and soberly in this pre­sent world, and lay fast hold on Christ, have (no doubt) attained that faith, which Saint Paul stileth, Tit. 1.1. the faith of Gods Elect: and Saint Act 13.48. & 15.9. Luke ma­keth an effect of predestination to eternall life: for such a Rom. 3.28. Joh. 1.12. faith purifieth the heart, justifieth before God, putteth us into the state of adoption, worketh by love, and is accompanied with repentance unto life: which gifts are never bestowed upon any reprobate, if we will beleeve the ancient Greg. l. 28. in Job. c. 6. Extra Ecclesiae men­suras omnes re­probi, etiamsi intra fidei limi­tem esse vide­antur. Aug. cont. Pel. l. 1. c 4 & de unit. eccl. c. 23. Hoc donum prop [...]ium est eorum qui reg­nabunt cum Christo. Plin. nat. hist. l. 21. c. 8. Post­quam d [...] ficere cuncti flores, m [...]defactus a­qua reviviscit, & hybernas co­ron is facit. Fathers. The seed of this faith being sown in good ground, taketh deepe root downeward in humility, and groweth upward in hope, and spreadeth abroad by charity, and bringeth forth fruits of good workes in great abundance: it resembleth the true Amaranthus, which, after all the flowers are blowne away, or drop downe at the fall of the leafe, being watered at the root, reviveth and serveth to make winter garlands: even so a firme and well grounded beliefe, after the flowers of open profession of Christ are blown away by the violent blasts of persecution and temptation, being moistened with the dew of grace from heaven, and the water of penitent teares, reviveth againe, and flourisheth and furnisheth the Church, Christs Spouse, as it were with winter garlands, unlooked and unhoped for.

The third pillar. The love of God is not more constant than his decrees are certaine; nor his decrees more certaine than his promises are faithfull: Therefore in the third place I erect for a third pillar, to support the do­ctrine delivered out of this Scripture, the promise of perseverance; which I need not hew nor square for the building, it fitteth of it selfe. For it im­plieth contradiction, that they who are endued with the grace of perseve­rance, should utterly fall away from grace. Constancy is not constancy if it vary, perseverance is not perseverance if it faile. And therfore S. Aug. de bono persev c. 6. Hoc donum suppliciter emereri potest, sed cum datum est, contumaciter amittti non potest; promodo enim potest amitti, per quod fit ut non amittatur, etiam quod possit amitti? Austin acutely determines, that this gift may be obtained by humble praier, but after what it is given, it cannot bee lest by proud contumacy: for how should that gift it selfe bee lost, which keepeth all other graces from being lost, which otherwise might bee lost? When I name the gift of perseverance in the state of grace, I understand with that holy Father, such a gift, [Page 20] Aug. de cor­rep. & gr [...]t. c. 12. Non sol [...] n ut sine isto do­no persev [...]ran­tes ess [...] non possunt, verum etiam ut per hoc donū non nisi perseveran­tes sint. Gratia qua subventum est infirmitati voluntatis hu­manae, ut inde­clinabiliter & insuperabiliter ageretur, & quam vis infir­ma non defice­ret nec adversi­tate aliqua vin­ceretur, sed quod bonum est invictissimè vellet, & hoc differere invi­ctissimè nollet. not onely without which wee cannot persevere, but with which we cannot but persevere. Such an heavenly grace, whereby the infirmity of mans will is supported in such sort, that it is led by the spirit unfailably and unconquerably, so that though it be weake, yet it never faileth, nor is overcome by any temp­tation, but cleaveth most stedfastly to that which is good, and cannot by any power bee drawne to forsake it. This gift of the faithfull is shadowed out by those similitudes (whereto the godly and righteous man in Scripture is compared) viz. of a Psal. 1.3. tree planted by the river side, whose leafe shall not wi­ther. Of the hill of Sion, which may not be removed, but standeth fast for ever, Psal. 125.1. Of a Mat. 7.24. house built upon a rocke, Quae

Upon which though the raine descended, and the flouds came, and the windes blew and beat on it, yet it fell not; for it was founded upon a rocke: but it is fully, plainly, and most evidently expressed, & promised in those words of Jer. 32.40. Jeremy, I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turne away from them to doe them good, and I will put my feare in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Which Text of the Prophet is by the Heb. 5.10. Apostle applied to the faithfull under the Gospel, and thus expounded by S. Austin: Aug. l. de bo­no persev. c. 2. Timorem dabo in cor, ut non recedant, quid est aliud quam talis ac tantus erit timor, ut mihi perseve­ranter adhaere­ant? I will put my feare in their hearts, that they depart not from me, what is it else than to say, the feare which I put in their hearts shall be such, and so great, that they shall assuredly or perseveringly cleave unto me?

They whose hearts are kept alwaies in this feare, need never feare finall Apostacy from God. Counterfeit Sen. de clem. l. 1. Nemo po­test personam diu ferte, ficta cito in naturam suam recidunt. things are discovered by their disconti­nuance & variation, but true by their lasting. That which glareth for a time in the aire, and out-braveth the stars, even of the first rank or magnitude, but after a few daies playeth least in sight, is a Comet, no true starre: ‘Stella cadens, non est stella, cometa fuit.’ Likewise that which glistereth like gold, yet endureth not the fire, is Al­chymy stuffe, no pretious metall. The stone that sparkleth like a Diamond, yet abideth not the stroke, is a cornish or counterfeit, not a true orient Dia­mond. It is artificiall complexion and meere painting, not true beauty, which weareth out in a day, and is washed off with a showre. Feigned things, and false, saith the Cic. de [...]s [...]c. l. 3. Ficta omnia tanquam slos­culi decidunt, vera gloria [...]a­dices agi [...], [...] (que) etiam propaga­tur. Oratour, soone fall like blossomes; true glory ta­keth root, and spreadeth it selfe. The truth himselfe, our Joh. 8 31. Lord and Savi­our, maketh perseverance a certain note of true Disciples: If yee continue in my word, then are you my Disciples indeed. Would any of you know whether he be a true sonne of God, and member of Christ? he can by no thing so infallibly finde it in himselfe, as by the gift of perseverance. This St. 1 Joh. 2.19. John giveth for a touch-stone of a true Apostle, They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had beene of us, they would have conti­nued with us; but they went out, that they might bee made manifest that they were not of us. Saint Paul of a true Heb. 3.6. member of Christ, or temple of the ho­ly Ghost: But Christ is a sonne over his owne house, whose house are wee, if wee hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firme to the end. Saint Aug. de cor­rep. & grat. c. 9. Tunc verè sunt quod appellan­tur, si manse­ [...]int in co propter quod sic appellantur. Augustine of the true children of God: Then they are truely what [Page 21] they are called (the sonnes of God) if they continue in that for which they are so called.

The fourth pillar I named unto you was the power of regenerating grace, 1 Pet. 1.3, 4. whereby wee are begotten againe unto a lively hope by the resurre­ction of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and un­defiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us. That which is incorruptible cannot bee destroyed or perish; that which is reserved for us, cannot be taken away from us. Now if any demand what preserveth faith in the soule, in such sort that it is never habitually lost, though the act thereof be sometimes suspended; I answer:

• 1. Outwardly, the powerfull ministry of the Word and Sacraments.
• 2. Inwardly, renewing grace infused into the soule at the first mo­ment of our conversion.

This grace is by the holy Ghost termed the Jam. 1.21. Receive with meeknesse the engraffed word, which is able to save your soules. engraffed word, some­times the 1 Joh. 2.27. But the an­nointing which ye h [...]ve received of him abideth in you: and as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. annointing that abideth in us, sometimes the 1 Cor. 3.16. Know ye not that ye are the temples of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? spirit dwelling in us, sometimes a John 4.14. Whosoever drinketh of the water I shall give him, shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of water springing to e­verlasting life. Well of water springing up to everlasting life, sometimes Gods 1 John 3.9. Whosoever is borne of God doth not cōmit sin; for his seed remaineth in him. seed remaining in us, sometimes 1 Pet. 3.23. Being borne a­gaine, not of corruptible seed, but of in­corruptible, by the Word of God which li­veth and abi­deth for ever. incorruptible seed: whence we may frame an argument like to that of our Saviours to Nicodemus, As John 3.6. That which is borne of the flesh is flesh, but that which is borne of the spirit is spirit. that which is borne of corruptible seed, is corruptible; so that which is borne of incorruptible seed, is incorruptible. How can he that is borne of incorruptible and spirituall seed be corrupted, and dye spiritually? how can hee that hath in his belly a Well of ever-springing water, thirst eternally? how can he in whom the annointing S. John speaketh of abideth, putresie in his sinnes? how can hee in whom the spirit dwelleth, be estranged from the love of God? how can he that is borne of God, become a childe of the Divell? Saint 1 John 3.9. John strongly argueth against it: Whosoever is born of God cannot commit sinne, because he is borne of God. I conclude this argument with that daring interrogation of Saint Aug. de bono persev. c. 7. Contra tam claram veritatis tubam, quis voce [...] ull [...]s aua [...]t humanas? Austin; Against so cleere and loud sounding trumpet of divine truth, what man of a sober and watchfull faith will endure to heare any voices or words from man?

The fifth pillar is Christs prayer for the perseverance of all true beleevers. The pillar is like to Jacobs ladder, that reacheth from earth to heaven; and though heaven and earth be shaken, yet this pillar will stand immoveable. I know, saith Christ, that thou, John 16.23. Verely, verely, I say unto you, whatsoever you aske the Father in my name, he will give it you. O Father, hearest mee alwaies. If wee ob­taine whatsoever we aske for Christs sake, shall not Christ obtaine what he asketh for us? If the Word of God sustaine the whole frame of nature, shall not Christs prayer be able to support a weake Christian? Doth God heare the softest voice, and lowest sigh and groane of his children upon earth, and will he not heare the loud cry of his Sonne in his bosome in hea­ven? What therefore if Sathan seeke to winnow us like wheat? Saint Cypr. de simpl. prelat. Triticum non rapit ventus, manes paleae tempestate jactantur. Cy­prian biddeth us never to feare blowing away: It is empty chaffe that is blowne away with the winde, the corne still abides on the floore. Shall Sa­thans fanning bee more powerfull to scatter, than Christs prayer to ga­ther us? shall any winde of temptation be of more force to blow us out of the heape, than the breath of Christ himselfe to keep us in? Luke 21.31, 32. Sathan hath [Page 20] [...] [Page 21] [...] [Page 22] sought to winnow you like wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith faile not. Upon which words Saint Aug. de cor­rep. & grat. c. 8 Quando rogavit Chri­stus ne Petri fi­des deficeret, quid aliud ro­gavit nisi ut haberet in fide liberrimam, fortissimam, perseverantis­simam volun­tatem? Austin thus enlargeth himselfe: When Christ prayed for Peter, that his faith might not faile, what did hee pray for else, but that he might have a most free, a most firme, a most constant will to continue in the faith? Yea, but it may be excepted, that this praier of Christ is a good protection for St. Peter, but not for us: he is thereby se­cured from Apostacy, not we. Why so? Peter is not here considered as the first precious stone in the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem, shining in spirituall graces above his brethren; but as one graine or seed among o­thers to bee winnowed by Sathan, which is the common case of all the faithfull: & therefore what Christ prayed for Peter, he prayed for all of the same heape that then were, or hereafter shall be winnowed by Sathan. Thus Saint Aug. de cor­rep. & grat. c. 12. Dicente Christo rogavi pro te, ne defi­ciat fides tua, intelligamus ci dictum qui aedificatur su­per petram, ita homo D [...] in Domino glori­atur, non solum quia misericor­diam consecu­tus ut esset fi­delis, sed etiam quia fides ipsa non deficit. Austin conceiveth of our Saviours prayer, when Christ said, I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith faile not; let us understand it to be spo­ken to him that is built upon a rocke: for hereby the man of God boasteth in the Lord, not only because he hath obtained mercy to become a beleever, but also because faith it selfe faileth not. Nay, our Lord himselfe thus ex­poundeth himselfe: John 17.20, 21, 23. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall beleeve on me through their word, that they may be also one in us: I in them, and thou in mee, that they may bee made perfect in one, &c. I will close this straine with a quaver, like to that of Plin. in pane­gyr. lurat is per quem juramus. Pliny to Trajane, What a favour is this, what security, what happinesse, he sweareth by whom wee all sweare? so may I say with farre greater reason, What a favour doth God vouchsafe unto us, what security doth he give us, what a happinesse is it for us, Orat is per quem oramus; Hee prayeth for us by whom wee pray, nay, to whom we pray: by whom we pray as our Mediatour; to whom we pray as God, and in whose name we obtaine all that we pray for?

The sixth pillar is a pillar of brasse, as strong as a castle of Diamond, to secure the person of the faithfull, the safegard of Gods protection. This pillar is thus erected by Saint 1 Pet. 1.4, 5. Peter, Those that are begotten againe to a lively hope, are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation; and therefore cannot be drawn away through infidelity to perdition. The Pa­trons of the apostacy of Saints cannot infringe this argument, unlesse they could weaken or shorten the arme of the Almighty, who is 2 Tim 1.12. able to keep that which is committed unto him against that day; and not able only, but 2 Thes. 3.3. faith­full also to establish us, and keep us from evill, and confirme us, not for a time only, but to the end, that we may be 1 Cor. 1.8. blamelesse in the day in the Lord Jesus: which, according to his gracious promises, hee most certainly per­formeth two manner of wayes:

• 1. Partly by arming us continually with new strength of grace to resist temptation, in what kind soever.
• 2. Partly by inhibiting and restraining the assaults themselves, both in respect of
  • 1. The violence,
  • 2. The continuance of them.

To the first point Saint Greg. l. 28. moral in Job c. 7. Novit pro custodia nostra restringere quod contra nos egredi pro justitiae [...]xerci­tio permittit, ut saeviens nos dilua [...] procella, non mergat. Gregory speaketh pertinently: Our gracious God for our health and safety knoweth how to keep that within bounds, which hee suffereth in justice to goe out against us, in such sort that the [Page 23] raging storme shall wash us all over, but shall not drowne us.

The second point Saint Ambr. com­ment. in 1 Co­rinth. 10. Non plus permitti­tur ei imponi, quàm scitur ferre posse, ut quarto die pati non permitta­tur, qui scitur ultra triduum non posse tole­rare. Ambrose fully hitteth: God, saith he, doth so proportion the burthen to our shoulders, that hee suffereth not more to bee laid upon any, than he knoweth may be borne, so that he permitteth not a man to be in durance the fourth day, whose patience he knoweth cannot hold out beyond the third. The Apostles words reach home to both: 1 Cor. 10.13. God is faithfull, who will not suffer you to bee tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to beare it: Hoc est scutum Vulcanicum, This is armour of proofe indeed against darts, ar­rowes, bullets, swords, or push of pike. If we shall never be tempted above our strength, we shall alwayes be strengthned above temptation; and con­sequently, never bee overcome of it. Plin l. 12. nat. hist. c. 9. Flucti­bus pulsatae re­sistunt immo­tae, quin & ple­no aestu operi­untur, appa­retque argu­mentis asperi­tate aquarum illas ali. Pliny writeth of a strange kinde of trees growing in the red sea, which being beat upon by the waves stand immoveable, yea sometimes when in a full sea they are covered over with water: and it appeares by many arguments, that they are bettered by the roughnesse of the waters; even so a Christian planted in the red sea by faith in Christs bloud, resisteth all the waves of temptation, and the more hee is beat upon, yea and overwhelmed also sometimes with the billowes of trou­bles and afflictions, the better he thriveth spiritually in grace.

The seventh and last pillar to uphold the doctrine delivered, is the judge­ment of the ancient Church, upon record in the authenticall writings of the ancient Fathers that flourished within sixe hundred yeeres after Christ. I will onely alledge such passages as upon this occasion I had time to examine.

Origen for antiquities sake shall begin the verdict. It is the manner of the Scripture to begin with those things which are sad and dreadfull, and to end with those things which are chearfull and comfortable: God saith not, Orig. in Jer. homil. 1. Non dicitur vivifi­cabo & occi­dam; sed occi­dam & vivifi­cabo: impossi­bile est enim quod Deus se­mel vivificavit, ab eodem ipso vel ab alio oc­cidi. I will make alive, and I will kill; but I will kill, and I will make alive: for it is impossible that what God once quickneth (hee meaneth by spirituall grace) should ever be killed or destroyed, either by himselfe or any other.

Saint Cyprian secondeth Origen, who will have Cyp. de simpl. prelat. Nemo aestimet bonos de Ecclesia pos­se discedere: triticum non rapit ventus, nec arborem solidâ radice fundatam pro­cella subvertit. no man entertaine any such thought, as if good men and true beleevers ever revolted finally from the Church: Let no man conceive, saith hee, that good men can depart from the Church: the winde blowes not away the wheat, neither doth the storme o­verthrow a tree sound at root; they are like empty chaffe which are scattered away with a whirlewind, and weake and rotten trees which are blown down in a tempest.

Saint Chrysostome joyneth upon the same issue, commenting upon the words of Saint Paul (by whom also wee have accesse by faith unto this grace wherein we stand) thus, He saith well the grace wherein wee stand: the phrase is worth the noting; for such indeed is the nature of Gods grace, Chrys. homil. in ep. ad Rom. c. 5. [...]. it is stable and constant, it hath no end, it knowes no period, but proceeds alwaies from lesser to greater matters. Those whom grace maketh to stand and grow continually, cannot fall totally nor finally.

Saint Ambrose accordeth with Saint Chrysostome in his observation upon the second Epistle to the Corinthians, chap. 3.3. The words of Saint Paul are, Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ ministred by us, written not with inke, but with the Spirit of the living God, [Page 24] not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. St. Amo Comment. in 2. Cor. 3.3. Nunc legem veterem pulsat, [...]uae p [...]imum data in lapideis tabulis abolita est, fractis tabu­lis sub M [...]nte à Mose: nunc autem lex in animo scribi­tur, hoc est, in corde, non per calamum, sed per spiritum, quia fides ae­terna res est, à spiritu scribi­tu, ut mane [...]t. Ambrose his note upon this place is; Here hee toucheth upon or striketh at the old Law, which first being given in tables of stone, is abolished, the tables being bro­ken under the Mount by Moses: but now the Law is written in the mind, not with a quill or pen, but by the spirit; because faith is an eternall thing, it is written by the spirit, that it may abide or still continue.

Saint Austin and Saint Gregory cleerly conclude on our side, by exclu­ding all from the number of Christs Disciples, and Sonnes of God, and Saints, whose revolt and apostacy proveth their hypocrisie. Saint Aug de correp. & grat. [...] 9. Qui non habent perseve [...] anti­am, cut non ve [...]è Discipuli Christi, ita nec verè Filii Dei fue [...]unt, etiam quando esse vi­debantur. & ita vocabantur. Austin speaketh definitively: Those who have not the gift of perseverance, as they are not truly Christs Disciples, so neither were they ever truly the Sonnes of God, no not when they seemed to be so.

And Saint Greg. moral. in Job l. 34. c 13. Aurum quod pravis diaboli persuasio [...]ibus sterni sicut lu­tum potuerit, aurum ante oculos Dei nunquam fuit; & qui seduci quando (que) non reversuri pos­sunt, qua i [...]ha­bitam sanctita­té ante oculos hominum vide­antur amittere, sed eam ante oculos Dei nunquam ha­bucrunt. Gregory is as peremptory: It may, saith he, peradventure trouble a weake Christian, that this Leviathan hath such power that hee can trample gold under his feet like dirt; that is, subject unto himselfe men shining in the brightnesse of holinesse, by defiling them with vices: but wee have an answer ready at hand, that the gold, which by wicked perswasions of the Divell can be laid under his feet like dirt, was never gold in the sight of God; and they who may be so seduced that they never returne againe, may seeme to lose the habit of sanctity before the eyes of men, but before the eyes of God they never were endued with any such habit.

You see with a little blowing what a cleere light the smoaking flaxe in my Text giveth to this Theologicall verity (viz.) that regenerating grace and justifying faith cannot be utterly lost, or totally extinct. Feele, I beseech you now, what warmth it yeeldeth to our cold affections, and sometimes benummed consciences: and first to our cold affections. Is the oyntment of the Spirit so precious, that the least drop of it saveth the life of the soule? Is the least seed of the Word incorruptible? Is the smallest sparke of true charity unquenchable? Cannot justifying faith be ever lost; nor the state of grace forfeited? Why then doe we not strive for this state? why doe we not, with the rich Merchant in the Gospel, sell all that wee have to gaine this pearle of faith? When we have got it, why doe we not more highly value it in our selves and others? Other pearles and precious stones adorne but the body, or cover some imperfection in it; this beautifieth the soule, and covereth all the skarres and deformities therein. Other Jew­els, be they never so rich, are but presents for earthly Princes; but with this pearle the King of Heaven is taken, and it is the price of that King­dome. Other pearles have their estimation from men; but men have their estimation from this pearle. Other Jewels when they are got may bee lost, and that very easily; but this Jewell of faith, if it bee true and not counterfeit, after it is once gotten can never be lost. All the thoughts of worldly men are employed, all their cares taken up, all their time bestow­ed, all their meanes spent in purchasing, or some way procuring unto them­selves a fortune (as they terme it) as a beneficiall office, or an estate of land of inheritance, or lease for terme of yeeres or lives; all which are yet sub­ject to a thousand casualties. Why do they not rather looke after and la­bour for the state of grace, which is past all hazzard, being assured to us by the hand-writing of God, and the seale of his Spirit? An estate not for [Page 25] terme of yeers, but for eternity; an estate not of land upon earth, but of an inheritance immortall, undefiled, reserved in heaven; an estate which cannot be spoiled or wasted by hostile invasion, nor wrung from us by power, nor won by law, nor morgaged for debt, nor impaired by publike calamity, nor endangered by change of Princes, nor voided by death it selfe. S. Chrysost. in c. 5. ad Rom. [...]. Chryso­stome his eloquence exspatiateth in this field: A man, saith he, hath recei­ved rule glory, and power here, but enjoyeth it not perpetually, but very soone fals from it. For though no man take it from him; death will quite strip him of it. But the gifts of God are not such, or like to the gifts of Prin­ces. For neither man, nor time, nor circumstances of actions, nor reason of state, nor the Divell himselfe, nay, nor death, can deprive him of them, or put him by them.

You see how the smoaking flaxe being blowne, kindles the heat of our zeale, and enflameth us on the purchasing the estate of grace by the price of Christs bloud. Feele now (I beseech you) in the second place, what warmth it yeeldeth to a benummed conscience, and a soule frozen in the dregs of sinne. That the bruised reed shall not bee broken, nor smoaking flaxe be quenched, is a doctrine of singular comfort and use; yet must it be very discreetly handled, and seasonably applyed to such and such onely as are heavie laden, and bruised with the weight and sense of their sinne, and through inward or outward affliction smoake for them: and are, as Arbo­reus speaketh, extinctioni vicini, neere to be utterly quenched through in­undation of sorrow. To tell a presumptuous sinner in the height of his pride, and heat of his lust, and top and top gallant of his vaine glory, Rectus in Cu­riâ. that he stands straight in the Court of heaven, is in the state of grace, and can never fall away from it, or become a cast-away, is to minister hot potions to a man in a burning fever, which is the ready way to stifle him, and as soone to rid him of his life as of his paine: hot cordials and strong waters are to be given in a languishing fit, and a cold sweat, when the patient is in danger of swouning. It is the part, saith S. Aug. de bono persev. c. 22. Do­losi vel imperi­ti medici est, etiam utile me­dicamentum sic alligare, ut aut non prosit, aut etiam obsit. Austin, of a deceitfull or unskilfull Physi­cian or Chyrurgian, to lay a wholsome salve or plaster so on, that it doe no good, nay, rather that it doe hurt. Having therefore made a most soveraign salve out of the words of my Text for the sores of a wounded conscience, I am now to shew you how to use, and when to apply it; viz. in deliquio spiritus, in a spirituall desertion or dereliction. As wee sometimes feele in our bodies [...], deliquium animae, a trance and utter failing of the vi­tall spirits; so is there also in the soule of a faithfull Christian sometimes deliquium spiritus, an utter fainting and failing in all the motions and ope­rations of grace; when God either to humble him, that he be not proud of his favours, or to make him more earnestly desire, and highly esteeme the comforts of the Gospel, withdraweth the spirit from him for a season, du­ring which time of spirituall desertion he lyeth as it were in a swoune, fee­ling no motion of the spirit, as it were the pulse-beating, taking in no breath of life by hearing the Word, nor letting it out by prayer and thanks-gi­ving, void of all sense of faith and life of hope, ready every houre to give up the holy Ghost. In this extremity we are to stay him with flagons, & com­fort him with the apples in my Text, and as his fit of despaire more & more groweth on him, in this sort and order to minister and give them unto him.

[Page 26]1. When he lamenteth in the bitternesse of his soule after this manner: There was a time when the face of God shined upon mee, and I saw his blessing upon all that I set my hand unto; but now he hath hid his face from mee; and shut up his loving kindnesse in displeasure; hee bloweth upon all the fruits of my labours, and nothing prospereth with mee, my estate de­cayes, and my friends faile mee, and afflictions and calamities come thicke upon me, like S. Bas. de pati­entia, conc. 13. [...] Job 1.14, 16, 17, 18. waves of the sea, riding one on the neck of the other, or like Jobs messengers, one treading on the heeles of the other, and the latter bringing still worse tidings than the former. Apply thou this remedy: Ma­ny Psal. 34.18, 19. Matth 9.12. 1 Tim. 1.15. are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all: he keepeth all his bones, so that not one of them is broken.

2. If hee goe on in his mournfull ditty, saying; I am farre from being righteous: therefore this comfort belongeth not unto mee. Apply thou this salve: The whole need not the Physician, but they that are sicke. This is a faithfull saying, and by all meanes worthy to bee received, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Matth. 9.13. I am not come, saith Christ, to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

3. If hee reply: Oh but I cannot repent; for I am not able to master mine owne corruptions: Vitiis meis impar sum; I cannot shake off the sin that hangeth on so fast. I am like one in the mudde, who the more he strug­gleth with his feet to get out, the deeper he sinketh, and sticketh faster in the mire. Apply this recipe: Yet bee of good comfort, because thou de­lightest in the Law of God touching the inward man: thou strivest against all sinne, and because thou canst not get the upper hand of some of thy bo­some corruptions, thy life is grievous unto thee. Thou cryest with the holy Apostle: Rom. 7.24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver mee from this body of death? Thou hungerest and thirstest after righteousnesse: and, Blessed are they which hunger and thirst for righteousnesse; Matth. 5.6. for they shall be filled.

4. If hee sinke deeper into the gulfe of desperation, and say: I feele no such hunger nor thirst in me. Custome in sinne hath drawne a kall over my conscience, and I am not now sensible of any incision. Reach thy hand to him, and support him with this comfort: Bee of good cheare (good bro­ther) for it is certaine thou hast some sense, because thou art sensible of thy stupidity, and mournest in thy prayers, and art vexed for this thy dulnesse: and blessed are they that mourne, Matth. 5.4. for they shall be comforted.

5. If he yet sinke deeper and lower, crying: Alas, I cannot mourne, my hard heart will not relent, my flinty eyes will not yeeld a teare for my sins: what hope then for me? Answer him, great; as great as thy sorrow, which is by so much the fuller, because it hath no vent. None grieveth more truly, Hierom. Tom. 1. epist. Mutus & clinguis ne hoc quidem habens, ut ro­gare possit, hoc magis rogat quod rogare non potest. than hee who grieveth because hee cannot grieve. A man that is borne dumbe, or hath his tongue cut out, when hee maketh offer to speake, moving his lips, but is not able to bring forth a word, beggeth after a more effectuall manner, even because hee cannot utter his prayer by speech, his very dumbnesse pleads for him; so the sorrow of a peni­tent sinner, which faine would expresse it selfe by teares, but cannot, which rendeth the heart continually, and maketh it evaporate into secret sighes, best expresseth it selfe to him of whom the Prophet speaketh: Psal. 38.9. Lord, thou [Page 27] knowest all my desires, and my groaning is not hid from thee.

6. If he sink so low, that the pit is ready to shut her mouth over him, and he being now even swallowed up in the gulfe of despaire, breathe out his last sigh, and roares most fearfully, to the great dis-heartening of all that come about him, saying: I have no touch of remorse, no sense of joy, no apprehension of faith, no comfort of hope; My wounds stinke, and are pu­trefied, and all the balme of Gilead cannot now cure mee. The Spirit is ut­terly extinct in me; and therefore my case desperate. In this extreme fit of despaire give him this cordiall out of the words of my Text: Hast thou never felt any remorse of conscience in all thy life? Wast thou never pricked in heart at the Sermon of some Peter? Wert thou never ravished with joy, when the generall pardon of all thy sinnes hath been exemplified to thee in the application of the promises of the Gospel, and sealed to thee by the Sacrament? Hast thou never had any sensible token of Gods love? I know thou hast, & thou acknowledgest as much in confessing amongst o­ther thy sins thine intolerable ingratitude towards the Lord that bought thee: then bee yet of good comfort, the flaxe yet smoaketh, the fire is not clean out; thou hast lost the sense, but not the essence of faith. Thou art cast out of Gods favour in thy apprehension, not in truth. Thou art but in a swoune, thy soule is in thee. Thou discernest no signe or motion of life in thee, but others may. Thy conscience will beare thee record, that sometimes thou didst truly beleeve, and true faith cannot be lost. Gods covenant of grace is immoveable, his affection is unchangeable, he whom God loveth, he loveth to the end; and hee whom God loveth to the end, must needs bee saved in the end: and so I end.

And thus have I blowne the smoaking flaxe in my Text, and you see what light it affordeth to our understanding, and warmth to our conscien­ces: what remaineth but that ‘I pray to God to kindle in us this light, and inflame this heate more and more, to revive the spirit of the humble, to cheare up the drouping lookes, and cure the wounded consciences, and heale the broken hearts of them that mourne for their sinnes, that is, to beare up the bruised and bowed reed that it be not broken, and revive and kindle againe the dying lampe, that it bee not quite extinguished. So be it, O Father of mercy, for the passion of thy Sonne, through the Spi­rit of grace: To whom, three persons and one God, bee ascribed all ho­nour, glory, praise, and thanks-giving now and for ever. Amen.’

THE STILL VOICE. A Sermon preached before the high Commis­sion in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth, Novemb. 20. 1619. THE THIRD SERMON.

IN these words we have set before us in the person of our Saviour an Idea and perfect image of meeknesse; the characters whereof are three:

• 1. Calmenesse in affection, He will not strive.
• 2. Softnesse and lownesse in speech, Hee will not cry, &c.
• 3. Innocency in action, He will not breake, &c.

1. Impatience is contentious, He will not strive.

2. Contention is clamorous, He will not cry.

3. Clamour is querulous, No man shall heare his voice in the street.

If it be objected that he did strive, and that with such vehemency that he sweat bloud: and that hee did cry, and that very loud; for as wee reade ( Hebr. 5.7.) he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares, unto him that was able to save him from death: and that his voice was heard in the streets; when he stood up in the last day, the great day of the Feast, John 7.37. and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto mee and drinke: wee need not flye to Anselme and Carthusians allegory for the matter, who thus glosse upon the words of my Text: His voice shall not be heard in the streets, that is, in the broad way that leadeth to destruction. Such Delian divers may spare their paines: for the objections are but shallow, and admit of a very facile solution without any forced trope. Hee will not strive, viz. in revenge, but in love; he will not cry, in anger, but in zeale; neither shall his voice be heard in the street, viz. vox querelae, but doctrinae; [Page 29] no voice of complaint, but of instruction or comfort. So that the three members in this sentence, are like the three strings in a Dulcimer, all Unisons. Wherefore in the handling of this Text, I will strike them all together. Seneca in his books of clemency, Cambden. hist. Reg. Eliz. Seneca l. 1. de clem. Condi­tum, imò con­strictum apud te ferrum, sit summa parsi­monia etiam vilissimi san­guinis, humili loco positis liti­gare, & in rix­am procurrere liberius est, le­ves inter pares ictus sunt, regi quoque vocife­ratio, verbo­rumque intem­perantia, non ex Majestate est. which Queene Elizabeth so highly esteemed, that shee gave them the next place to the holy Scrip­tures, reades a divine Lecture to a Prince in these words: Let thy sword not onely be put up in the sheath, but also tyed fast in it; bee sparing of the mea­nest and basest bloud. It is for men of lower condition to fall into quarrels and strifes, equals may exchange blowes one with another without much danger; it standeth not with the Majesty of a Prince to engage himselfe in any quarrell or fight: because he hath no equall to contend with him: so far ought it to be from a Prince to brawle, or wrangle, that the straining of his voice is unbefitting him upon any occasion whatsoever. What the wise Phi­losopher prescribeth to a good Prince, the Prophet Esay describeth in our King Messias, who was so milde in his disposition, that hee was never stirred to passion; so gentle in his speech, that he never strained his voice in choler; so innocent in his actions, that he never put forth his strength to hurt any. We reade in the booke of 1. Kin. 19.11, 12. Kings, that there was a mighty wind, but God was not in the wind: and after the wind an earth-quake, but God was not in the earth-quake: and after the earth-quake a fire, but God was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice, in which God was. There God was in the still voice; but here the Evangelist out of the Prophet infor­meth us, that there was a small still voice in the Lord our Saviour Jesus Christ. For he strove not, nor cryed, nor was his voice heard in the streets. A still small voice naturally produceth no eccho. For as a ball layd softly on the ground boundeth not up againe; but if it be strook downe with a vehe­ment stroake riseth from the ground again and again; so a low and whispe­ring voice, which gently moveth the aire, is not returned againe by an ec­cho: but a strong and a loud sound, which forcibly smiteth the aire, is re­verberated from mountains & rocks by a double or treble eccho. Yet here a still small voice is returned by an eccho. For the words which I have read unto you in S. Matthew are no other than the eccho of the voice of the Pro­phet Esay. As Esay of all the Prophets is most Evangelicall, that is, most plainly delivereth the story of Christ his life and death by way of predi­ction; so S. Matthew of all the foure Evangelists is most Propheticall, that is, alledgeth most passages out of the Prophets in his Gospel. None so fre­quently inserteth testimonies out of the Old Testament into his story as hee, which hee so pertinently applyeth, that in his Gospel every man may discerne the truth of that observation of the Ancients (viz.) that the New Testament is vailed in the Old, and the Old is revealed in the New. The Pro­phets & Evangelists being the organs of the same holy Spirit, like divers instruments of musick playing the same tune, though in different keyes. Or rather like opposite looking-glasses, reflecting the same image one upon the other, to wit, the brightness of God his glory, Hebr. 1.2. & the expresse image of his per­son. Or like thick & bright clouds on both sides of the Sun, which receiving the beams therof, & with them an impression of the similitude of that Prince of the celestiall lights, reflect the same one upon another, & make as if there were divers Sunnes in the sky, which are indeed but parelii pictures and [Page 30] representations of the selfe same Sunne, Malach. 3.1. Esa. 42.1, 2, 3. the Sunne of righteousnesse. The Prophet Esay pointeth to the Messias, as it were afarre off, saying, Behold the servant of God whom he upholdeth, his Elect, in whom his soule delighteth, upon whom he hath put his spirit, he shall bring forth judgement to the Gen­tiles; he shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets; a bruised reed shall hee not breake, and smoaking flaxe shall hee not quench, till hee bring forth judgement unto truth. The Evangelist viewing Christ neere at hand, findeth all those markes in him, by which the Prophet de­scribeth him. Which you shall plainly descry, if you cast backe your eye on the story set down a little above my Text. There shall you find Christ stretching out his hand of mercy to a withered hand, and healing it on the Sabbath day, and the Pharisees murmuring at it, and conspiring against him for it. Against whom notwithstanding hee made no forcible resi­stance, nor so much as opened his lips, but giving place to their wrath, lea­veth that country; and though hee were so ill requited for his good deeds, and miraculous cures, yet he goes about still doing good in all places, hea­ling their sicke, curing their blind, lame, and deafe, and withall charging them, that they should not make him knowne, That it might bee fulfilled, saith the Evangelist, &c. That it was fulfilled which God spake by the Prophet Esay, and how, it will evidently appeare, by comparing the pre­dictions of the Prophet with the history of the Evangelist: Behold my ser­vant, saith the Prophet. The sonne of man came not to bee ministred unto, but to minister, Matth. 20.28. Luke 23.35. Mat. 3. ver. ult. Luke 2.32. saith the Evangelist. Mine Elect, saith the Prophet. Christ the chosen of God, saith the Evangelist. In whom I delight, saith the Pro­phet. In whom I am well pleased, saith the Evangelist. Hee shall bring judgement to the Gentiles, saith the Prophet. A light to lighten the Gen­tiles, saith the Evangelist. Hee shall not strive, saith the Prophet Hee did not strive, saith the Evangelist; neither here with the Scribes and Phari­sees, nor in the garden with them that sought his life; but contrariwise, when St. Peter drew a sword in his defence, Matth. 16.52, 53. and strooke off a servant of the high Priests eare, he rebuked him, saying, Put up thy sword, thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and hee shall presently give mee more than twelve legions of Angels? but how then shall the Scripture be fulfilled? He shall not cry, Mat. 27.14. Acts 8.32. nor lift up his voice, saith the Prophet. Hee was silent, and answered not a word, saith the Evangelist, but was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a Lambe dumbe before the shearer. A bruised reed shall he not breake, saith the Prophet. The Evangelist testifieth he did not. For the people which lay maimed and diseased, like bruised reeds upon the ground, he went not over, but raised them up; and the Scribes and Phari­sees, whose malice smoaked against him, he did not destroy, or extinguish, when hee might as easily have done it, as tread out the weeke of a candle on the ground with his shooe. For hee came not to quench, but to kindle; not to destroy, but to save; not to launce, but to plaster; not to revenge, but to reconcile; not to punish, but to suffer; not to breake the bruised reed, but to be beaten and bruised with reeds and whips, yea and to be bro­ken also upon the crosse.

You have heard how this Text is inferred. Now in the second place listen what it inferreth both against the Jew, and for the Christian.

[Page 31]1. It inferreth for the reproofe of the Jew, that the first comming of the King Messias was to be private and silent, without any outward pompe or great noise.

2. For the instruction of Christians, that the members ought to bee conformable to the head, and frame their dispositions to his most sweet and gracious temper.

3. For the comfort of all, that the Judge of all flesh is meeke, milde, and mercifull to all that bow to him, or fall downe before him like bruised reeds.

First, we have here the character of the true Messias, and the manner (if I may so speak) of his stealing into the world at his first comming. Where­in judicious Calvin willeth us to observe the difference between the Mes­siah and other Kings and Princes. They when they ride in progresse, send their Harbingers before to take up lodgings, and Martials to make way, and when they enter any City, it is with great noise and tumult, ringing of Bels, sound of Trumpets, peales of Ordnance, ratling of Speares, clattering of Coaches, and clamours of the People; but our King, the Prince of peace, entred the world in a far different maner. As in the buil­ding of the materiall Temple there was not heard the noise of any toole; so neither in the building of the spirituall Temple, I meane the Temple of Christs body, and setting it up, was there any noise or sound heard. John 2.21. This privacy of his first entry into the world pleaseth not the carnall Jew, whose thoughts are all upon a temporall Monarch, that should buy out Croesus his wealth, and obscure Solomon in all his royalty, and extend his dominion as farre as the Sunne casteth his beames. No Messiah will please him, but such a one as comes in with great state and pompe: yet was Christ his quiet seizing upon his Kingdome most correspondent to the prediction of the Prophet, Psal. 72.6. He shall come downe like raine into a fleece of wooll, or upon the mowne grasse, that is, not heard, and most agreeable to his title and kingdome. For what more consentaneous to reason, than that the Prince of peace should enter upon his Kingdome of grace in a quiet and silent manner. Had hee come into the world like the two Scipio's, which were termed fulmina belli, with thundering and lightening, or like the Roman Emperours, or the grand Signiours, in the most pompous man­ner, with greatest ostentation of wealth, and pride of worldly honour, more feared hee might have been, but lesse loved: there had been more state in his comming, but lesse merit for us; and consequently, lesse true comfort in it. The note that we are to take from it is, That Christs King­dome is not of this World: And the use we are to make of it is, Not to looke for great estates, large revenues, or high preferments here; but to be con­tent with a competency of meanes, not without a liberall allowance, some­times of afflictions, crosses, and troubles. For delicate members, and such as must be continually wrapt in soft raiment, & that can endure no hardnesse, sort not well with a head crowned with thornes. By the Law, The feathers of such fowles as had been sacrificed, were cast in locum cinerum, into the place of ashes. What are all the pompes and vanities of this world, but like beautifull feathers? Projiciamus ergo in locum cinerum; Let us therefore strip us of them, and by true mortification cast them into the place of ashes, [Page 32] especially in this time of sorrow and penance, when sackcloth is or should be in fashion for apparrell, and ashes for couches. Upon which when God seeth us, he will have compassion on us, and give us beauty for ashes, and the garment of gladnesse for the spirit of heavinesse. 2 Cor. 5.7. Coloss. 3.3, 4. As we are Christians we walke by faith, and not by sight; our life is hid with Christ in God: and when Christ which is our life shall appeare, then shall we also appeare with him in glory.

Secondly, we have here the picture of meeknesse in the pattern of all per­fection, Matth. 21.5. Christ Jesus, drawne to the life for our imitation. What the Pro­phet Zachary fore-told concerning the disposition and gracious temper of the Messias to come, saying: Tell the daughter of Sion, behold, the King commeth unto thee meeke, Zach. 9.9. &c. the same the Evangelist confirmeth through the whole Gospel, by the speeches and silence, actions and passi­ons, life and death of the Lord of life. To begin with his speeches, if ever that Eulogue of the Greeke Poet, ‘ [...].’ or the like of the Latine; Vernas afflat ab ore rosas, were verified: if ever the tongue of any dropped honey, and his breath were as sweet and savou­ry as Roses in the Spring, it was certainly our Redeemers, who is that hee spake, and speaketh alwayes that he is, the Word of God. The Father is as the mouth, the holy Spirit the breath, and Christ the word. Heare, I be­seech you, verba Verbi, the words of the Word of life; Come unto mee all that are heavie laden, and I will ease you. Sonne, be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repen­tance. The sonne of man came not to destroy, but to save. Goe in peace, thy sinnes bee forgiven thee. And, Come yee blessed of my Father, possesse the Kingdome prepared for you before the foundation of the world was laid, &c. Yea, but these speeches hee uttered to penitent sinners, or such as sued to him for favour and mercy; how did hee demeane himselfe towards those uncivill and inhumane Samaritans, who denied him lodging? Against whom James and John, the sonnes of thunder, were so incensed, that they would have called downe fire from heaven to destroy them, by the example of Elias. Doth he curse them? doth he upbraid ingratitude, and inhospitali­ty unto them: nay, rather he rebuketh his Disciples, whom zeale and love transported too farre, and by telling them, they knew not of what spirit they were, Luke 9.55. he shewed apparently what spirit he was, who when the Scribes and Pharisees laid Sorcery and Necromancy to his charge, saying: Say we not well thou art a Samaritane, and hast a Divell? he delivered them not to the Divell, as they deserved for this their blasphemous slander, nor sharply reproveth them; John 8.49. but mildly answereth, I have not a Divell, but I honour my Father, and yee have dishonoured mee. Perhaps he pitied their ignorance, or had respect to the dignity and place of the Scribes and Pha­risees, who bare the greatest sway among the people, may some say. But what was there in his owne Disciple Judas, that he should grace that dam­ned caitiffe, that traiterous servant, that sonne of perdition, with the title of Friend, when he came to play the most unfriendly and ungratefull part that ever was acted, even to betray his Lord and Master? Friend, wherefore art thou come? Matth. 26.50. doest thou betray the sonne of man with a kisse? I have spoken [Page 33] of the speeches of our Saviour, let me not passe in silence his meek silence, when he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lambe before the shea­rers, so opened hee not his mouth. When hee was falsly slandered in the Judgement seat, shamefully handled in the Hall, most contumeliously re­viled, and cruelly tortured upon the crosse. When the Judge of all flesh was condemned, the beauty of Heaven spit upon, the King of glory crow­ned with thornes, the Maker of the world made a spectacle of misery to the whole world. When his Disciples forsooke him, his owne Nation accused him, the Judge condemned him, the servants buffeted him, the souldiers deluded him, the people exclaimed against him, the Scribes and Pharisees scoffed at him, the executioners tormented him in all parts of his body. When the Starres were confounded with shame, the Elements troubled, Cypr. de bon. pat. Cùm confun­derentur side­ra, elementa turbentur, con­tremiscat ter­ra, nox diem claudat, sol ne Judaeorum fa­cinus aspicere cogatur radios subtrahat, ille non loquitur, nec movetur, nec Majesta­tem suam sub ipsá saltem morte profite­tur; O qualis & quanta est Christi patien­tia! qui adora­tur in coelis, nondum vindi­catur in terris. the Earth trembled, the Stones clave with indignation, the vaile of the Temple rent it selfe, the Heaven mourned in sables, the Sunne, that he might not behold such outrage done upon so sacred a person, drew in his beams. He who suffereth all this quatcheth not, stirreth not, nor discovereth his divine Majesty, no not when death approached. When all insensible crea­tures seemed to be sensible of the injury offered their Maker; he who fee­leth all, seemeth to be insensible. For hee maketh no resistance at all, and though he were omnipotent, yet his patience overcame his omnipotency, and even to this day restraineth his justice from taking full revenge of them who were the authours of his death, and of those who since crucifie againe the Lord of life, and trample under their feet the bloud of the Covenant, as a prophane thing. Whose thoughts are not swallowed up in admiration at this, that he who is adored in heaven, is not yet revenged upon the earth? You see meeknesse in his passions, behold now this vertue expressed to the life in his life and actions Actions, I say, whether naturall or miraculous, so in­deed they are usually distinguished; albeit Christs miraculous actions were naturall in him, proceeding from his divine nature: and most of his natu­rall actions, as they are called, proceeding from his humane nature, were in him wonderfull and miraculous. For instance, to weep is a most naturall action; but to weep in the midst of his triumph, and that for their ruine, who were the cause of all his woe: to shed teares for them, who thirsted after his bloud, was after a sort miraculous. Who ever did the like? In­deed we reade that Marcellus wept over Syracuse, and Scipio over Car­thage, and Titus over Jerusalem, as our Saviour did, but the cause was far different: They shed teares for them whose bloud they were to shed; but our Saviour for them who were ready to shed his. Luke 19.41. His bowels earned for them who thought it long till they had pierced his heart with a launce. When the high Priest commanded Paul to be smote on the face, hee rebu­ked him, saying: The Lord shall smite thee thou painted wall: Acts 23 3. but when the Lord himselfe was smitten by the high Priests servant, he falls not foule upon him, but returnes this milde answer: If I have done evill, John 18.23. beare wit­nesse of the evill; but if I have done well, why strikest thou me? The servant thinketh much to endure that from the Master, which the Master endures from the servant. The Apostles, on whom the Spirit descended in the likenesse of fiery tongues, were often hot, and inflamed with wrath against the enemies of God, and brought downe fearfull judgements upon them; [Page 34] but our Saviour, on whom the Spirit descended in the likenesse of a Dove, never hurt any by word or deed. 2 Kin. 5.27. Matth. 8.2. Luke 4.27. & 17.12. Acts 13.11. Acts 5.5.10. Eliah inflicted leprosie upon Gehazi by miracle. Christ by miracle cleansed divers lepers. Saint Paul tooke away sight from Elymas. Christ by miracle restored sight to many. Saint Peter miraculously with a word strucke Ananias and Sapphira down dead. Christ by miracle raised many from death, insomuch that his very enemies gave this testimony of him: Mark 7 37. Hee hath done all well, giving to the lame feet, to the maimed strength, to the dumbe speech, to the deafe eares, to the blind sight, to the sicke health, to the dead life, to the living everlasting joy and comfort.

I have proposed unto you a notable example, shall I need to put to spurres of art to pricke on your desires to follow it? the example is our Saviour, and the vertue exemplified in him meeknesse. How excellent must the picture be which is set in so rich a frame? such a vertue were to be imitated in any person; such a person to be imitated in any vertue: how much more such a vertue in such a person? It is hard to say, whether ought to bee the stronger motive unto us to follow meeknesse, either be­cause it is the prince of vertues, or the vertue of our Prince, whose stile is Princeps pacis.

Where the prince is the Prince of peace, and the kingdome the King­dome of grace, and the law the Law of love, they must certainly be of a milde and loving disposition that are capable of preferment in it. If the Spirit be an oyntment, as S. 1. John 2.20. But you have an oyntment from the Holy One, and you know all things. John calleth it, it must needs supple. If grace bee a dew, it cannot but moisten and soften the heart, and make it like Ge­deons fleece, Judges 6.37. which was full of moisture when all the ground about it was dry. What can be said more in the commendation of any ver­tue than meeknesse; and of it, than this, that God commandeth it in his Word, Christ patterneth it in his life and death, the holy Spirit produceth it in our hearts, our very nature enclineth us to it, and our condition re­quireth it of us? No vertue so generally commended as meeknesse. Fol­low after righteousnesse, 1 Tim. 6.11. godlinesse, faith, love, patience, meeknesse, bee no brawler, Tit. 3.2. but gentle, shewing all meeknesse to all men. Walke worthy of the vocation whereunto you are called, with all lowlinesse and meeknesse, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the uni­tie of the Spirit in the bond of peace. James 3.17, 18. The wisedome that is from above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easie to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, and the fruit of righteousnesse is sowne in peace of them that make peace. No fruit of the spirit so sweet and pleasant as this: as on the contrary, no fruit of the flesh so tart and bitter as jealousie and wrath, which God curseth by the mouth of Genes 40.7. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their rage, for it was cruell. Jacob; but blesseth meeknesse by the mouth of our Saviour, Matth. 5.5. Blessed are the meeke, for they shall inherit the earth. The earth was cursed before it brought forth thornes, and thistles, and briars, which are good for nothing but to bee burned. Wherefore let us hearken to the counsell of St. Cypr. de zelo & b [...]ore Evel­lamus spinas de cordibus, ut d [...]minicum se­men nos fertili fruge locupletet. Cyprian: Let us weed out of our soules envie, wrath, and jealousie, and other stinging and pricking passions. And of the Apostle: Let no root of Heb. 12.15. Looking diligently,—lest any root of bitternesse springing up trouble you. bitternesse remaine in us, that we may receive with meeknesse the engraffed Word, which is able to save our [Page 35] soules, James 1.21. Our carnall lusts are like so many serpents, and of all, wrath is the most fiery, which will set all in a combustion, if it bee not ei­ther quenched by the teares of repentance, or slacked by the infusion of divine grace, especially the grace of meeknesse, which in the heart is ten­dernesse, in the disposition softnesse, in the affections temper, in the minde calmenesse, in the carriage sweetnesse. Aristotle briefly defineth it, Rhet. l. 2. [...]. the Bridle of wrath; which because it is a passion of all other most head-strong, it requireth both a strong curb, and a skilfull rider, for whose direction the Spirit of God in holy Scripture hath set downe divers rules.

The first rule is, not to be suddenly or easily provoked. This is laid downe for us by the Apostle St. James, Let every man bee swift to heare, James 1.19. slow to speake, slow to wrath. To follow this rule, it will be behoofull according to the advice of Hyper. citat. à Lips. Com­ment. in Sen. de clem. l. 1. [...], &c. Hyperides, to prevent the occasion of quarrels, and stop the passages of wrongs, to nip the seeds of discords, because if anger take root, like an inveterate disease, it will hardly bee cured. Senec. l. 1. de clem. In primis finibus hostis arcendus est; nam cum por­tis se intulit, modum à cap­tivis non capit. Seneca strikes the same note, though on a different string: Above all things, saith hee, keep the enemy from entring the City: for if hee once thrust his head into the gate, he will give thee the law, and not take it from thee. Ovid giveth it as a character of a gracious Prince, to be tardus ad iram; Slow to wrath. Cer­tainly, it is no strong piece that will suddenly bee out of frame: the bone was never well set, that easily slips out of joynt. A man full of juice and sap of grace is like green wood, which is long before it be kindled: they who easily take fire, seem rather to be annointed with brimstone, than the sweet oyntment of the spirit above mentioned.

The second rule is, to tolerate some infirmities in others, as likewise o­thers tolerate us in many things: for, as St. Austin speaketh; Toleramus, & toleramur, we tolerate, and are tolerated our selves: James 3.2. Galat. 6.2. because all offend in many things, and many in all. This rule is laid downe by St. Paul; Be are yee one anothers burthens, and so fulfill the law of Christ: in which words hee enjoyneth us not onely to beare light injuries, but those that are grie­vous and burthensome; and the more burthens we beare in this kinde, the lesse we have upon our owne conscience. How can we expect that Christ should put his shoulders to our crosses, if wee withdraw our necke from his yoke?

The third rule is, to consider the nature of our brothers temptation, and accordingly to deale with him. This is laid down by the Apostle: Galat. 6.1. If any man be overtaken in a fault, restore such an one in the spirit of meeknesse, consi­dering thy selfe, lest thou also be tempted. Abraham lyed to Abimelech, Peter denied his Master, Job uttereth speeches of impatience, Paul an­swereth very smartly to Ananias; The Lord smite thee thou painted wall: Acts 23.3. but this they did either transported in passion, or upon great provo­cation, or out of feare, to save their lives. The greater the temptati­on is, and the more forcible the assault of Sathan upon the frailty of our nature, the lesse the sinne is, or at least more pardonable. This sole con­sideration moved Saint Cyprian to take pity on some of them, that in time of persecution denied their Master, and were therefore deservedly excommunicated, whom hee thus bringeth in pleading for themselves, not with teares, but with drops of bloud falling from their tortured [Page 36] members: C [...]pr. de lapsis. Manabat proffetib [...]s san­guis. & pro la­chrymis c [...]ot sem [...]stulatis viscetib [...] de­flueb [...]t, st [...]tit mens stabilis, & fide fortis, & cum torq [...]enti­bus p [...]nis [...]m­mobilis d [...] anima lactata est, sed cum du­ [...]ssimi Judicis recrudescente saevituâ [...]am fa­tigatum corpus, nunc flagella scinderent, nunc contun­derent fustes, &c. caro nos in colluctatio­ne destruit. For a long time, say they, our resolution remained firme, and our faith strong, and we held out the fight against our tormenting paines: but when the malice and cruelty of the Judge was exasperated against us, and our savage tormentors fell afresh upon our wearied and worne-out bodie, some­times tearing it with whips, sometimes bruising it with clubs, sometimes stretching it upon the racke, sometimes scorching it with fire, our flesh for­sooke us in the conflict, the weaknesse of our bowels gave place, and our body, not our soule, was in the end overcome with the violence of paine. Beloved, you were never yet brought to the fiery tryall, that you might know how farre the extremity of torment might worke and prevaile upon the infir­mity of your flesh: thanke God for it, and judge charitably of them, whose faith and constancy shone not so cleerly in the middest of the fire, but that they might be compared to the smoaking flaxe in the Verse following my Text.

The fourth rule is, to admonish before we punish, and give warning before wee strike. This is laid downe by Deut. 12.10. Moses: When thou commest nigh to a City to besiege it, first offer conditions of peace to it. This course God hath most strictly kept, sending Noah to the old World, Moses and Aaron to Egypt, Lot to Sodome, Obadiah to Edom, Jonah to Nineveh, the old Prophets and Christ himselfe to Jerusalem, that they might prevent Gods judgements, by repenting them of their sinne; as the Ninevites had the grace to doe, who had certainly been destroyed, if destruction had not been threatned them by the Prophet. Whereat Saint Chrysostome standeth amazed, and in the end breakes out into this passionate exclama­tion: O new and admirable thing! the denuntiation of death brought forth life; the prophecy of the overthrow overthrew the prophecy; the sentence of destruction made a nullity in the sentence. And if Jerusalem had knowne the things that belonged to her peace, even in that day in which our Savi­our fore-shewed her fatall doome, his prophecy had fell, and the City had stood. For therefore God and man threaten to inflict severe punishment, that they may not inflict what they threaten; as Phil [...]ct. l. 5. [...]. Philostrates and Nazian epist. 194. [...]. Nazi­anzen observe.

The fifth rule is, first to use faire and gentle meanes before wee take a more severe course. This is laid downe by the Apostle (1 Corinth. 4.21.) What will you? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and the spirit of meeknesse? You see the soft drops of raine pierce the hardest stones, and the warme bloud of a Goat dissolveth the Adamant. Nature seemeth to prescribe this method, which alwayes sendeth a flash of lightening before we heare a clap of thunder; Et afflatur omne, priusquam percutitur: And nothing is struck, which is not blasted before. And Art also doth the like:

Si frustra molliora cesserint, Seneca l. 1. de ir [...]. ferit venam. For Physicians first minister weak and gentle potions, and as the disease groweth, apply stronger medicines. And good Surgeons, Homer. l. 1. [...].like Machaon in Homer, first lay plasters and poul­tesses to wounds and swellings, and never launce or burne the part till the sore fester, and other parts be in danger: whom good Magistrates ought [Page 37] to imitate, and never to use violent and compulsive remedies, but when they are compelled thereunto; nor to take extreme courses, Senec. l. 1. de ira. Ultima suppli­cia motibus ul­timis parat, ut nemo pereat, nisi quem peri­re etiam pere­untis intersit. but when the malady is extreme. Desperate remedies are never good, but when no other can be had: for they that are of a great spirit, if they be well given, will not; if they be ill, cannot be amended by such meanes. They resem­ble Jeat, which burneth in water, but is quenched with oyle: or the Plin. nat. hist. l. 31. c. 7. Uno digito mobilis, idem si toto corpore impel­litur resistens, ita ratio est li­bra menti. Co­lossus at Tarentum, which you may move with your finger, but cannot wagge, if you put your whole strength to it. As for those that are of a weaker spirit, and are easily daunted, harsh courses will doe them more hurt than good: for they resemble tender plants, which dye if they are touched with a Rustici fron­dibus teneris non putant ad­hibendam fal­cem, quia refor­midare ferrum videntur, & ci­catricem non­dum pati posse. knife or iron instrument.

The sixth rule is, to sweeten the sharpest censures with mild speeches. This rule is delivered by Lactantius, in these words: Circumlinere poculum coelestis sapientiae melle, when wee minister a wholsome, but bitter potion, to annoint the side of the cup with honey: when we give the patient a loath­some pill, to lap it in sugar. The manner whereof the Spirit sheweth us in divers letters sent to the Churches of Apoc. 2.3. Asia. First, we are to professe the good will wee beare to the party, and make it knowne unto him, that whatsoever we doe, we doe it in love. Apoc. 3.19. I rebuke and chasten as many as I love. Secondly, to acknowledge their good parts, if they have any: Apoc. 2.2, 4. I know thy workes, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not beare them that are evill: neverthelesse I have somewhat against thee, be­cause thou hast left thy first love. Thirdly, to give them some good ad­vice and counsell with our reproofe: Apoc. 3.18. I counsell thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou maist bee rich; and white raiment, that thou maist be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakednesse may not appeare, and to an­noint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou maist see. Lastly, to promise them favour upon any token of amendment: Apoc. 3.20. Be zealous therefore and repent: behold, I stand at the doore and knocke: if any man heare my voice, and open the doore, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Some there are who like best a resolute Chirurgian, who, be the patient never so impatient, will doe his duty, and quickly put him out of his paine; though in the meane time he putteth the party to most intolerable torture. Give me a tender-hearted Chirurgian, who being to set an arme or legge that is out of joynt, handleth it so gently, that the patient scant feeleth when the bone falleth in. Thus Nathan the Prophet handled King David, 2 Sam. 12.3, 4, 5, 6, 7. and by telling him first a parable of a poore man that had but one lambe, &c. and afterwards applying it unexpectedly to the King himself ere he was aware, as it were set not his body, but his soule in joynt.

The seventh rule is, to keep the execution of justice within certaine bounds, set by equity and mercy. This rule is laid downe by the Prophet Micah: Hee hath shewed thee, O man, what is good, Micah 6.8. and what the Lord re­quireth of thee, to doe justice, and to love mercy: and by Solomon; Eccles. 7.16. Be not just overmuch. Cut not too deep, nor launce too farre; Ne excedat medi­cina modum. It is better to leave some flesh a little tainted, than cut a­way any that is sound. It is more agreeable to Gods proceedings to save a whole City for ten righteous mens sake, than after the manner of the Romans, when there was a mutiny in the Campe, to pay the tythe to ju­stice, [Page 38] by executing every tenth man through the whole Army. For as Germanicus cryed out in Tacitus, Tacit. annal. l. 1. Non medicina ista est, sed cla­des. when hee saw a great number of souldi­ers put to the sword for raising up sedition in the Army: Stay your hand, this is not an execution, but a slaughter; not a remedy, but a plague; not se­verity of justice, but extremity of cruelty. For which Theodosius the Em­perour was justly excommunicated by St. Ambrose, and Aegyptus sharp­ly censured by the Poet:

And Scylla was proscribed by the Historians and Poets of his time to all ages, because hee was not content with the punishment of sixty thousand in Rome, who were executed with most exquisite torments; but entring afterwards into Praeneste, there left not a man alive: and else where also his cruelty raging in the end, as Lucan observeth, hee let out the corrupt bloud; but when there was in a manner no other bloud left in the whole body of the Common-wealth:

What was this else, Sabast. conjur. Ca [...]il. Vasta [...]e civitatem, non sana [...]e. than as Salust speaketh, to exhaust a city, not to purge it? I am not against the cutting off a rotten member, to preserve the whole body. I know the sword is the only cure of an incurable wound, which yet hath no place, when there is no sound part in the whole body. Bodin. de rep. l 3. c 7. Et si sa­lutare est putre membrum ad universi corpo­ris salutem ure­re, aut secare, non propterea si omnia mem­bra extabue­rint, a [...]t gan­g [...]ena infician­tu [...] sectionibus erit aut ustioni­bus utendum. Bo­dine speaketh pertinently to this purpose: It doth not follow, that be­cause it is good Surgery sometimes to burne out rotten flesh, or cut off a member to save the whole, that therefore if a gangrene overspread the whole, we are to apply a Razor or Cupping-glasse. Sen. de [...]em. Poena ad pau­cos, metus ad omnes perve­niat. Seneca better advi­seth: Let the clap fright all, the thunderbolt strike but a few. For as Cassex Jan. Grat. not in Tac. Principi non minus turpia multa suppli­cia, quàm medico funera. Cassiodore noteth, It is as great a shame for a Magistrate, as for a Phy­sician, to have many dye under his hand. Chuse therefore the fattest of the beasts for sacrifice, that is, make the chiefe authours and ring-leaders in any sedition or riot a sinne-offering for the rest, and an example unto all. This moderation Tully used in repressing the conspiracy of Salust. in con­jur Catil. Cataline: Quintus Cur­tius de gest. Alex. Alexander in punishing the rebellion of the Articinae: Scipio in discipli­nating his Army, as if they had all read that divine sentence of Senec. l. 1. de clem. Divina po­tentia est gre­ [...]aum ac publice servare, multos occidere, & indiscretos, incendii & ruinae potentia est. Seneca, To kill men pell mell, and murder multitudes together, is liker a ruine of a house, or the devouring of a common fire, than a moderate execution of ju­stice: but on the contrary, To save whole multitudes of men, and that to­gether from death and destruction, is an eminent worke of the divine power.

The eighth rule is, to be touched with a Rom. 12.15. fellow-feeling of anothers misery. This is laid downe by S. Paul: Colos. 3.12. Weep with them that weep, put on the bowels of mercy, kindnesse, and meeknesse. A good Magistrate should not bee like the iron instruments of Chirurgians, that have no sense at all of the intole­rable paine which they cause in the part pricked or launced; but like Za­leuchus, who put out one eye of his owne, when hee sentenced his sonne according to law to lose both his eyes. It should bee a cut in their heart [Page 39] to cut deep into any member of Christ Jesus. Why hath God given us soft hearts, but to melt into compassion? why moist eyes, but to shed teares, as well for others grievous affliction, as our owne sinnes? Teares, saith the Poet, are the most sensible, and best sensible parts we have; No­stri pars optima sensus: and they that have sap of grace in them are fullest of them.

If Augustus never pronounced a capitall sentence, without fetching a deep sigh: If Marcellus wept before he set fire to Syracuse: Valer. Max. An­te fuas lachry­mas quàm ip­sorum sangui­nem effudit. If Scipio pro­fessed in an Oration to his Souldiers, that he drew a sword through his own bowels, when he put thirty of them to death, to expiate the trespasse of eight thousand: Nay, if God himselfe, who is void of all passion, is yet full of compassion; ‘At que dolet quoties cogitur esse ferox:’ If hee never pronounce the dreadfull sentence of destruction against any City or Country, without great regret and seeming reluctation, Hos. 11.8. How shall I give thee up, O Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, O Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim? My heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. Vers. 9. I will not execute the fiercenesse of mine anger;—for I am God, and not man, &c. Beloved brethren, how should wee bee affected, when any of his children, our bre­thren, are like to be ruined by our sentence? How loth should wee bee to draw bloud one from another, who are members one of another, and fel­low-members of Christ Jesus? Were Christ againe upon earth, could you see him stripped stark naked, and flead with whips, and pierced with nailes, and racked on the crosse, and not bee pricked at heart with compunction, and wounded deeply with compassion? And doth hee not assure us, that whatsoever is done, bee it good or bad, to any of his little ones, Matth. 10.42. Acts 9.4. is done unto him? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Therefore never look that he will have mercy on you in heaven, if you have no compassion on him here, cal­ling for food in his starved, sighing for home in his banished, groaning for ease in his burthened, mourning for liberty in his imprisoned, crying for pity in his grievously afflicted and tortured members.

I have applyed this Text to instruction and correction: now a word of comfort from this, that the Judge of all flesh is so meeke, as hath been shewed. When Benhadad the King of Syria was discomfited, and utterly overthrowne by the King of Israel, according to the advice of his servants, who told him that the Kings of Israel were mercifull, 1 Kings 20.31, 32, 34. hee sent them clothed with sackcloth, with ropes upon their heads, to entreat for peace: now when the King of Israel saw their submission, he made a covenant of peace with them. Better advice I cannot give you, than to put in practise what they did: when you are overtaken with Gods judgements, and affrighted with hell torments, cast your selves downe to the ground before him, and poure out your soules with a showre of teares, and put ropes upon your heads, that is, acknowledge what you have deserved for your sinnes, and sue day and night for pardon, and in the end you shall finde by your owne experi­ence, [Page 40] that he that is over all is rich in mercy unto all that call upon him. Rom. 10.12. For he will not only raise you up, and set you upon your feet, and pull the rope off your neckes, Cant. 1.11. but will farther decke you with golden chaines of spiritu­all graces linked together: hee will make you borders of gold with studs of silver. Nay, as when Tygranes threw first his crowne, and after himselfe downe at the feet of Pompey, that noble Commander, as Xiphiline wri­teth, Xiph. in com­pend. Dion. taking pity on him, put his Diadem againe with his owne hands upon his head, and after took him by the hand, raised him from the ground, and set him in a chaire of state by him: So the great Commander of heaven and earth, when he seeth your unfeigned humility, and lowest submission to him, will raise you up, put a crowne of glory upon your head, and set you in a throne of majesty on his right hand, to sit with him in judgement upon the twelve Tribes of Israel. So be it. To God the Father, &c.

THE LAMBE TURNED LION. A Sermon preached in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth, Decemb. 6. Anno Dom. 1619. before his Majesties high Commissioners there assembled. THE FOURTH SERMON.

THe words of Gedeon to the Ephraimites, Judges 8.2. (Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vin­tage of Abiezer?) may not unfitly bee applyed to the written Word of God in comparison of other bookes. Is not the gleaning of Scripture better than the vin­tage of all secular learning? Hierom. ad rustic. Eloquentiae torcularia non verborum pam­pinis, sed sen­suum quasi uvarum expres­sionibus redun­darent. For in these the presses of eloquence abound with leaves of words, and luxuriant stemmes of extravagant wit; but in it with spirituall senses and divine sen­tences, as it were the juice and bloud of the ripest grapes of the Vine of En­geddi. It is a point of wisedome in man, who hath but little, to make it goe as farre as he can; and so thriftily instill it in his workes, as Nature doth her influences in simples, a great quantity whereof is often distilled to extract one drop of pure quintessence: whereas on the contrary, no plant of Paradise, no branch of a plant, no flower of a branch, no leafe of a flower, but affordeth great plenty of the water of life, more precious than any quintessence that Art can force out of Nature. The finers of gold, Chrysost. tom. 5. homil. 37. as golden mouth St. Chrysostome teacheth us, deale not only with wedges, ingots, and massie pieces of gold, but with the smallest portions thereof. And the Apothecaries make singular use in divers confections even of the [Page 42] dust of gold. When Alexander the great managed his affaires in Judea, those whom he imployed to gather the most precious oyle of Plin. l. 12. nat. hist. c. 25. Succus è plaga manat, quem Opobal­samum vocant, suavitatis exi­miae, sed tenui gutta, Alexan­dro magnores ibi gerente, to­to dic aestivo unam concham impleri justum erat. Opobal­samum, thought a whole Summers day well spent in filling a small shell, taking it as it fell drop by drop from the twigge. And if a skilfull Jeweller will not grind out a small spot, or cloud out of a rich stone, though it some­what dimme the bright lustre thereof, because the substance is so precious; shall we lose, or sleightly passe by any Iota, or tittle of the Booke of God, which shall out-last the large volumes of the heavens? for Mat. 5.18. heaven & earth shall passe away, but no one Iota or tittle of the Word of God shall passe. The Jewish Rabines say, that great mountaines hang upon the smallest Jods in the Bible. And St. Chrys. in Gen. [...]. Chrysostome will not endure a devout Christian to let goe any syllable in the Scripture, no nor pricke, or point without obser­vation. Surely, if God so carefully preserve the smallest parcels of Scrip­ture, he would have us religiously observe them. Else if wee content our selves with a generall handling of the Word of life, how shall wee satisfie the Apostles precept of rightly dividing the Word of God? 2. Tim. 2.15. Shew thy self a workman, that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. The word in the originall is not [...], dichotomizing, (the Apostle tyeth no man to a precise Ramisticall method;) yet is it [...], rightly cutting, or dividing the Word of truth, which cannot be done, if any sensible part be omitted, be it but a conjunctive particle, as this Till in my Text, which stan­deth like an hinge in the midst of the sentence, turning the meaning divers wayes. If it hath reference to the death and resurrection of our Saviour, as Cajetan & Avendanus conceive it hath, (in which he brought forth judge­ment unto victory, by condemning the world, & conquering both death & hell) then the meaning of the whole is this, He shall not strive nor cry, &c. he shall not offer any violence to his enemies by word or deed, although he could as easily destroy them as a man may breake a reed already bruised, or tread out the smoaking week of a light ready to goe out of it selfe, yet he will not use this power, but contrariwise carry himselfe most meekly towards them, and by his mildnesse and patience both condemn their fury, and conquer their obstinacy.

If it looke farther forward to the destruction of the City and Temple, and the overthrow of the whole Jewish Nation, as Theophylact and Mus­culus imagine, expounding Till hee bring forth judgement unto victory, till he execute judgement upon them that judged him, and fully be reven­ged of them by the sword of the Romans; then the meaning of the whole is, Hee shall not breake the bruised reed of the Jewish Nation, till by the victory of the Romans he shall execute judgement upon that Nation; nor shall he quench the smoaking flaxe of the Aaronicall Priesthood, till forty veeres after his death the City of Jerusalem shall bee sacked, and the Temple burned downe to the ground, and by the propagation of the Go­spel, and prevailing thereof in all places, the dimme light of the Ceremo­niall Law be quite extinguished.

But if the word Untill carry us so farre as the last Judgement, to which St. Jerome, St. Hilary, Guilliand. comment in Mat. Qui diebus carnis suae vi­sus est humilis & benignus doctor, aderit aliquando Ju­de [...], & utetur potentiá abso­lutâ, & damna­vit hostes suos. Guilliandus, and many other learned Expositors referre it, then the whole beareth this tune: See you Jesus now in the forme of a servant, how humble and meeke he is, so farre from killing and [Page 43] subduing his bloud-thirsty enemies by forcible meanes, that hee will not strive with them; so farre from lifting up his hand against them, that hee will not lift up his voice, Hee will not cry, nor shall his voice bee heard in the streets complaining against them; so farre from wounding the spirit, Cic. Catil. prim. Quos ferro vulnerare o­portebat, non­dum voce vul­nerat. or hurting the bodies of any men, that hee will not breake a bruised reed, nor quench the smoaking flaxe. The time shall come, when you shall see this meek Lambe turned into a fierce Lion: He who cryed not upon earth, shall thunder from heaven: He who came now to suffer in meeknesse, shall hereafter come in power to conquer: Hee who came in humility to bee judged, shall come in Majesty to judge both quicke and dead: Hee who came by water and bloud; by water to wash our sinnes, and by bloud, to quench the fire of his Fathers wrath, shall one day come in flaming fire, to render vengeance to all that beleeve not the Gospel: He who in all his life never brake a bruised reed, Beza in Mat. c. 12. Tum re­bellia corda confringet, non jam clemens & humilis, sed se­verus, & maje­state verendus. shall after his death and resurrection, when he commeth to Judgement, if not before, rule the Nations with a rod of Iron, and breake them in pieces like a potters vessell: Hee who here never quen­ched the smoaking flaxe, hee shall hereafter put out the greater lights of the world: He shall darken the Sunne, and turne the Moone into bloud, and shake the powers of heaven, and foundations of the earth, and the hearts of men, and behold, he commeth with the clouds, and all eyes shall see him, Apoc. 1.7. even they that nailed him to the Crosse and pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall mourne before him, Yea and Amen: then he shall bring or send forth judgement unto victory.

He brought forth judgement in his life, by preaching the Gospel in his owne person, and he sent it forth after his death, by the ministery of his Apostles, and doth still by propagating the Church: but hee bringeth not forth judgement unto victory in the Evangelists phrase; because this his judgement is much oppressed, the light of his truth smoothered, the pure doctrine of the Gospel suppressed, the greater part of the Kings of the earth, and Potentates of this world refusing to submit their scepter to his Crosse, and saying, as it is in St. Lukes Gospel, Luke 17.14. Wee will not have this man to reigne over us: but when the sonne of man shall display his banner in the clouds, and the winds shall have breathed out their last gaspes, and the sea and the waters shall roare; when heaven and earth shall make one great bonefire, when the stage of this world shall be removed, and all the actors in it shall put off their feigned persons and guises, and appeare in their owne likenesse; when the man of sinne, 2 Thes. 2.3, 8. that exalteth himselfe above all that is called God, shall be fully revealed, and after consumed with the spi­rit of Christs mouth, and be destroyed by the brightnesse of his comming: then he shall suddenly confound the rest of his enemies, Atheists, Hypo­crites, Jewes, Turkes, Idolatrous Gentiles and Heretikes, and breake the neckes of all that stubbornly resist him, and then the truth shall universal­ly prevaile, and victoriously triumph. All this variety of descant which you heare, is but upon two notes, a higher and a lower, the humility and the majesty, the infirmity and the power, the obscurity and the glory, the mildnesse and the severity of our Lord and Saviour; his humility upon earth, his majesty in heaven; his infirmities in the dayes of his flesh, and his power since hee sitteth at the right hand of his Father; the obscurity [Page 44] and privacy of his first comming, and solemnity of his second: his mild­nesse and clemency during the time of grace and mercy, and his wrath and severity at the day of Judgement and Vengeance. Ecce, tibiâ cecinimus vo­bis; Behold, out of this Scripture, I have piped unto you, recording the plea­sing notes of our Redeemers mildnesse and mercy, who never brake the bruised reed, nor quenched the smoaking flaxe: now I am to mourne unto you, sounding out the dolefull notes of his justice and severity, which shall one day bring forth judgement unto victory.

But before I set to the sad tune, pricked before mee in the rules of my Text, I am to entreat you to listen a while till I shall have declared unto you the harmony of the Prophet Esay, and the Evangelist S. Matthew; the rather because there seemeth some dissonancy and jarre between them. For in Esay we reade, Esay 42.3. Hee shall bring forth judgement unto truth, that is, give sentence according to truth; but in St. Matthew, He shall send forth judge­ment unto victory, which importeth somewhat more than [...] (viz.) that the judgement he shall send forth, viam inveniet aut faciet, shall ei­ther finde way or force it, take place or make place, no man or divell being able to withstand it. Besides this discord in their notes, there is a sweet straine in the Prophet ( he shall not faile, Verse. 4. nor bee discouraged, till hee have set judgement on the earth) left out in the Evangelist. To the first excepti­on the Jesuit Maldonat saith, that the Syriack word signifieth both truth and victory, and that Saint Matthew wrote not in pure Hebrew, but in the Hebrew then currant, which was somewhat alloyed and embased with o­ther languages; which if it were granted unto him, as it is not by those who defend that the Greeke in the New Testament is the originall, yet the breach is not fully made up. For still the originall Hebrew in Esay, and the Greeke in Saint Matthew, which hath been ever held authenticall, are at odds: [...] in Hebrew signifying truth, and [...] in the Greeke signify­ing victory, and not truth. I grant the truth of Christ is most victorious, and hath subdued all the false gods of the Heathen, as the Arke laid Dagon on his face, and the rod of Aaron devoured all the rods of the Magicians: yet truth and victory are not all one. A weake Judge may bring forth judgement unto truth, yet not unto victory; as on the contrary a potent and corrupt Judge may bring forth judgement unto victory, yet not unto truth. Tully in a bad cause prevailed against Oppianicus, by casting dust in the Judges eyes. And Aeschines prevailed not against Ctesiphon in a good cause. Right is often overcome by might, and sometimes by the sleight of a cunning Advocate for the false part. To the second objection Beza an­swereth, that these words, that hee will not faile, nor be discouraged, till he hath set judgement on the earth, were anciently in St. Matthew, but of late, through the carelesnesse of some transcriber, from whose copy ours were drawne, are left out. But sith this Verse is wanting in all the copies of Saint Matthew now extant, neither can Beza bring good proofe of any one in which this Verse was ever found, it is not safe to lay any such imputation upon the first transcribers of St. Matthewes Gospel, whereby a gap may be opened to Infidels and Heretickes to cavell at the impeachable autho­rity of the holy Scriptures in the originall languages. A safe and easie way to winde out of these perplexed difficulties, is to acknowledge, that the [Page 45] Evangelist, who wrote by the same spirit wherewith the Prophet Esay was inspired, tyed nor himselfe precisely to the Prophets words; but fit­teth the Prophets sense to his owne purpose, and what the Prophet deli­vered in two Verses, he contracteth into one. For what is hee shall bring forth judgement unto truth, and he shall not faint nor be discouraged, till hee hath done it; but that he shall doe it effectually and powerfully? and what is that but he shall send forth judgement unto victory?

Hee shall send forth. Cal. in Mat. 1. Hoc verbum educere quo utitur Prophe­ta, significat of­ficium Christi esse Regnum Dei, quod tum inclusum erat in angulo Ju­deae propagare in totum or­bem. This phrase reacheth forth unto us a twofold ob­servation; the first touching the extent, the second touching the freedome of this judgement here spoken of. By judgement is here meant the King­dome of Christ, which must not bee confined to Jury, nor bounded within the pale of Palaestine: but hee sent forth, that is, propagated and spread over the whole world, according to the prophecy of the Psalmist, Psal. 110.2. The Lord shall send a rod of thy strength out of Sion: be thou ruler in the middest of thine enemies. Whilst our Saviour lived upon earth, the soveraigne bal­samum of wounded mankind yeelding a savour of life unto life, was kept as it were in a narrow boxe; but at our Saviours death the boxe was broken, and this precious oyntment poured out, and the whole world filled with the smell thereof. This doctrine touching the naturalizing (if I may so speak) of the Gentiles into the spirituall Common-wealth of Israel, was im­plyed in the Metaphor of the Rose of the field; Cantic. 2.1. I am the Rose of the field (Christ is not a garden flower, for few to see, and fewer to smell unto; but a Rose of the field, for all to gather that have a hand of faith to touch him): but it was unfolded at large to Saint Peter in a vision of a sheet let downe from Heaven, knit at foure corners, Acts 10.11, 12. in which were all manner of foure footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, &c. The foure corners of the sheet signified the foure parts of the world, all sorts of living creatures, all sorts of men, of all kindreds, nations, and lan­guages. The sheet in which they were all wrapped is the Church militant. In the end of the vision the vessell was received up againe into heaven, Acts 10.16. to shew, that in the end of the world the whole Church militant shall be tran­sported into heaven, and become triumphant. St. Orig. com­ment. in Cant. homil. 1. Quemadmo­dum in Evan­gelio mulier illa quae san­guine fluebat, archi Synago­gae filiam cura­tione praevenit; sic Aethiopissa, id est, Gentium Ecclesia, Israel aegrotante sa­nata est. Origen representeth this truth most cleerly unto us through the mirrour of an allegory; Though (saith he) the found of the Gospel came later unto the Gentiles, yet the Gen­tiles prevented the Jewes in giving credit to it, and were justified before them; as the woman in the Gospel, that was sicke of a bloudy issue, was healed before the Rulers daughter. The daughter of the Ruler of the Synagogue, was a type of the Jewish Synagogue; the woman that was in a long con­sumption by reason of her continuall fluxe of bloud, was an embleme of the people of the Gentiles, lying more than twelve ages sicke of a bloudy issue, weltring in her naturall filth and bloud. Now, as Christ, going to cure the Rulers daughter, was touched by the Canaanitish woman sicke of a bloudy issue, and she by that touch was cured; so though Christ came first to heale the Synagogue, yet the Gentile Church touching the hemme of his garment by faith, is first healed and saved.

The phrase of sending forth judgement, expresseth our Saviours readi­nesse in opening the treasures of heavenly wisedome, and unfolding the mysteries of eternall salvation; [...] till he shooteth out, casteth out, or [Page 46] sendeth forth judgement of his owne accord, as a tree doth his fruit, or the Sunne his beames. Matth. 12.35. A good man bringeth forth out of the treasure of his heart good things. Matth. 2.11. The Sages opened their treasures, and every Scribe which is instructed unto the Kingdome of heaven, is like unto a man that is an house-holder, which bringeth forth out of his treasures things new and old. I have not hid thy righteousnesse within my heart, Psal. 40.10. saith David in the person of Christ, I have declared thy faithfulnesse and thy salvation: I have not con­cealed thy loving kindnesse and thy truth from the great congregation. Ver. 9. I have preached righteousnesse in the great assembly, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. And according to this fore-going type, how ready the truth himselfe was to publish the Gospel of the Kingdome, appeareth by his taking all occasions from every ordinary occurrent, to instruct his Di­sciples in points of heavenly wisedome; as from a draught of fish to admo­nish them of fishing for soules: from Well-water, to treat of the water of life: from barly loaves, to exhort them to labour for the food that peri­sheth not: from burying the dead, to reprove those that are dead in sinne: from curing the blind in body, to rebuke the spirituall blindnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees: from a question concerning the materiall Temple, to fore-tell the dissolution of the temple of his body, and raising it up againe in three daies. To conceale any needfull, especially saving truth, is to bury the gold of Ophir, and thereby deprive not only others, but our selves also of the benefit and use thereof. Wherefore St. August l. 12. confess. Veritas nec mea, nec tu [...], nec illius est, sed omnium nostrûm quos ad ejus com­munionem publicè vocas, admonens nos ut nolimus eam habere priva­tam, ne prive­mut ea. Augustine sharply censureth such as would challenge a peculiar interest and propriety in that which is the common treasure of Gods Church, saying: The truth is neither mine, nor thine, nor his, but all ours in common, whom thou, O Lord, callest pub­likely to the communion thereof, dreadfully admonishing us, not to desire to have it private, lest we be deprived of it. In speciall, the truth of judgement ought not to bee kept in, but to bee sent forth. For to detaine any private mans goods, is but a private wrong; but unrighteously to detaine justice, which is the Kings, or the Common-wealths, or rather both their good, is a kind of peculatus, or publike theft. We laugh at the Indians for casting in great store of gold yeerly into the river Ganges, as if the streame would not runne currently without it: yet when the current of justice is stopt in many Courts, the wisest Soliciters of sutes can finde no better means than such as the Indians use, (by dropping in early in the morning gold and sil­ver into Ganges) to make it runne. Pliny reporteth of Apis the Aegyptian god (whom they worshipped in the likenesse of a Cow or Oxe) that hee gave answers to private men, è manu consulentium cibum capiendo, Taking alwayes some food from their hands, otherwise the Oracle was dumbe. I need not to prosecute the application in this place, where, by the testimo­ny of all men, and the truth it selfe, the streame of Justice (if any where) runneth cleerly, most free from all filth and corruption. Therefore I passe from Christ his sending forth judgement to his victory.

Hee shall send forth judgement unto victory.

There are two principall acts, or to speake more properly, effects of our Lords Princely function, [...] and [...], judgement and victory; judge­ment upon, and victory over all his enemies: Wee have them both in the words of my Text, Judgement which hee shall send forth, and [Page 47] Victory unto which. But of what Judgement or Victory the words are to bee construed, the learned Interpreters of holy Writ somewhat differ in judgement. Some in their ghesses fall short upon the particu­lar judgement and utter overthrow of the Jewish Nation by Vespasian, and his sonne Titus. Others deferre the accomplishment of this prophecy, till the dreadfull day of the Worlds doome, when by the shrill sound of the Archangels Trumpet all the dead shall bee awaked, and the son of man shall march out of Heaven with millions of Angels to his Judge­ment seat in the clouds, where hee shall sit upon the life and death of man­kinde. That day, saith Saint August. l. 20. de civitate Dei. Ille dies judicii propriè dicitur, eo quod nullus erit ibi imperi­tae querelae lo­cus, Cur inju­stus ille sit foe­lix, & cur ju­stus ille infoe­lix? Austin, may bee rightly called a Day of Judgement, because then there shall bee no place left for those usuall ex­ceptions against the judgements of God, and the course of his providence on earth, viz. Why is this just man unhappy, and why is that unjust man hap­py? Why is this profane man in honour, and that godly man in dis­grace? Why doth this wicked man prosper in his evill wayes, and that righteous man faile in his holy attempts? Nay, why for a like fact doth some man receive the guerdon of a crowne, and another of a Juvenal. Satyr. Sceleris preti­um ille cru­cem tulit, hic diadema. crosse or gibbet? the one of a halter, the other of a chaine of gold? These and the like murmurs against the justice of the Judge of all flesh shall bee hushed, and all men shall say in the words of the Psal. 58.11. Psalmist, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth. And then Christ may bee said properly to bring or send forth judgement, when hee revealeth the secrets of all hearts, displayeth all mens consciences, and declareth the circumstances of all actions, where­by all mens judgements may bee rightly informed in the proceedings of the Almighty, and all men may see the justice of God in those his most secret and hidden judgements, at which the wisest on earth are asto­nished, and dare not looke into them, lest they should bee swallowed up in the depth of them. I speake of those judgements of God, which Saint August. lo. sup. cit. Dies decla­rabit ubi hoc quoque mani­festabitur, quàm justo Dei judicio fi­at, ut nunc tam multa, ac penè omnia justa Dei judicia sensus mentem­que mortalium fugiant, cum ta­men in hac repiorum fidem non lateat ju­stum esse, quod latet. Austin termeth Occuliè justa, and justè occulta; Secretly just, and justly secret: so they are now; but at the day of Judgement they shall bee manifestly just, and justly manifest; then it shall appeare not onely that the most secret judgements of God are just, but also that there was just cause why they should bee secret, or kept hidden till that day. Lastly, then Christ may bee said properly to bring forth judgement unto victory, because hee shall first conquer all his enemies, and then judge and sen­tence them to everlasting torments. Of which dreadfull Judgement, en­suing upon the glorious Victory of the Prince of peace over the great Whore, and the false Prophet, and the Divell that deceiveth them all; from which the Archangel shall sound a retreat, by blowing the last trump, and summoning all that have slept in the dust to arise out of their graves, and come to judgement, I need not to adde any thing more in this Religious and Christian auditory. Wherefore I will fill up the small remainder of the time with some briefe observations upon the ruine and utter desola­tion of the Jewish Nation, who even to this day wandring like Vagabonds in all countries, and made slaves not only to Christians, but to Moores, Turkes, and other Infidels, rue the crucifying of the Lord of life, and the spilling of the innocent bloud of the immaculate Lambe of God, that ta­keth [Page 48] away the sinnes of the World. As according to the custome of our country, Quarter-Sessions are held in Cities and Shire-townes, before the generall Assises; so Christ a little more than forty yeeres after his death at Jerusalem, and ascension into Heaven, held a Quarter-Sessions in Jerusalem for that country and people: after which hee shall certainly keep a generall Assises for the whole world, when the sinnes of all Nations shall be ripe for the Angels sickle.

Some of the wisest of the Jewish Rabbins entring into a serious con­sideration of this last and greatest calamity that ever befell that people, together with the continuance thereof more than 1500. yeeres, and ca­sting with themselves what sinne might countervaile so heavie a judge­ment, in the end have growne to this resolution, that surely it could be no other than the spilling of the Messias bloud, which cryed for this venge­ance from heaven against them. And verily if you observe all the circum­stances of times, persons, and places, together with the maner and means of their punishments, and lay them to the particulars of Christs sufferings in and from that Nation, you shall see this point as cleerly set before your eyes, as if these words were written in letters of bloud upon the sacked walls of Jerusalem, Messiah his Judgement and Victory over the Jewes.

1. Mocking re­paid.1. Not full sixe yeeres after our Lords passion, most of those indig­nities and disgraces which the Jewes put upon him, were returned backe to themselves by Flaccus, and the Citizens of Alexandria, who scurri­lously mocked their King Agrippa in his returne from Rome, by inve­sting a mad man, called Carabbas, with Princely robes, & putting a reed in his hand for a Scepter, & saluting him, Haile King of the Jewes. Note here the Jewes mocking of Christ repaid unto themselves: yet this was not all. Whipping re­paid. The Alexandrians were not content thus scornfully to deride the King of the Jewes, they proceeded farther to make a daily sport of scourging many of the Nobility, even to death, and that, which Philo setteth a Tra­gicall accent upon, at their solemnest Feast. Note here the Jewes whipping and scourging Christ upon the solemne Feast of Passover repaid unto them.

3. Spitting re­paid.3. And howsoever their noble and discreet Embassadour Philo made many remonstrances to the Emperour Caligula of these unsufferable wrongs offered to their Nation; yet that Emperour, because the Jewes had refused to set up his Image in the Temple, was so farre from relieving them, or respecting him according to the quality he bare, that he spurned him with his foot, and spit on his face. Note here the Jewes spitting on Christ repaid them.

4. The Jewes re­fusing Christ to be their King, to flatter the Ro­mane Caesar, re­vene [...]d on them by Caesar himself.4. In conclusion, the Emperour sent him away with such disgrace and discontent, that hee, turning to his country-men, said: Bee of good cheare, Sirs, for God himselfe must needs right us now, sith his Vicegerent, from whom wee expected justice, doth so much wrong us, and contrary to the law of all Nations most inhumanely, insolently, and barbarously useth mee, employed as a publike minister of state for our whole Nation. But all this in vaine; these wrongs fell right upon them. It was just with God, that they who in disdaine of his Sonne cryed out, Wee have no King but [Page 49] Caesar, should finde no favour at Caesars hands, and much lesse at Gods, before whom they preferred Caesar. Baron. annal. Noluerunt flo­rem, nacti sunt Florum praesi­dem. They would none of the flower of Jesse, they cast him away: therefore God in justice after the former trou­bles, sent them by Nero's appointment Deputy Florus, The Pharisces envie at the peo­ples crying▪ Ho­sanna to Christ, punished. who robbed their Church treasury to raise a rebellion, & after put them to the sword for this rebellion: received money of them to save them from spoile, and spoiled them the more for it; insomuch that the Scribes and Pharisees, and chiefe Rulers, who rebuked the people for bringing in Christ to Jerusalem with branches of palmes, and happy acclamations of Hosanna to the sonne of David, Hosanna in the highest, are now forced to bring out all the trea­sures of the Temple, and Priestly ornaments, by them as it were to adjure the people, and beseech them even with teares to march out of Jerusalem in seemliest order, and with expressions of joy to meet and greet the Ro­mane souldiers, who requited their salutations with scornes, and their gifts with pillaging them. Note here the Jewes envie at Christs triumphant riding into Jerusalem punished.

6. I beseech you observe the circumstances of time, persons, and place, and you shall perceive that divine Justice did not onely make even reckonings with them in every particular of our Saviours sufferings, but also kept the precise day and place of payment. Galilee, wherein Christ first preached, and wrought so many miracles, first of all suffers for her unbeliefe, and is laid waste by Vespasian. The infinite slaughter at Jeru­salem, began with the high Priest Ananus his death, whom the Zelots slew in the Temple: ‘Sanguine foedantem quas ipse sacraverat aras.’ A lamentable sight, saith Josephus, to see the chiefe Priest, a little before clad with sacred and glorious vestments, richly embroidered with gold and precious stones, lye naked in the streets, wallowing in dirt, mud, and bloud; to behold that body which had been annointed with holy oyle, to bee torne with dogges, and devoured by ravenous and uncleane fowle; to looke up­ [...] the Altar in the Temple polluted with the bloud of him, who before had hallowed it with the bloud of beasts. But so it was most agreeable to divine Justice, that that order (though never so sacred) should first and most dreadfully rue our Lords death, whose envie was first, and ma­lice deepest in the effusion of his most innocent bloud. Who can but take notice of that which the Histories of those times, written by Jewes as well as Christians, offer to all readers observation? viz. That the Jewes, who escaped out of Jerusalem, and fell into their enemies quar­ter, because they were thought to devoure downe their money and jew­els, that the Romane souldiers might not finde them about them, were in great numbers after they were slaine, ripped Their giving money to Judas to betray him, repaid. and bowelled; and that besides those Jewes crucified by Flaccus, whose death Philo in legat. Alii die festo mortuos de crucibus de­traxerunt, at hic, non mortuos de crucibus, sed vivos in crucem sustulit. Philo so much bewailed, because the execution was done upon them at their great Feasts, without any regard to the solemnity of the day: there were so many in this last siege of Jerusalem Their crucifying him repaid with advantage. crucified on the walls every day, that there [Page 50] wanted in the end crosses for mens bodies, and spaces for crosses. Note here their price of bloud given to Judas to betray his Master, as also their cru­cifying the Lord of glory, was repaid with advantage. Crucified they are in their persons (for some of them that conspired Christs death might live till this time) or in their children and nephewes by hundreds, who cryed to Pilate when hee would have freed Christ, Away with him, away with him; Crucifie him, crucifie him. Their bloud is shed for money, who gave money to betray innocent bloud; and shortly after thirty of them are sold for a piece of silver, who bought his life at thirty pieces of silver.

As wee have compared persons and actions, or rather passions; so let us now parallel times and places. Titus began to besiege Jerusalem, as Caesar Baronius exactly calculateth, upon the day in which our Savi­our suffered: hee surveyed the City on Mount Their contempt of Christs teares, Olivet, whence our Savi­our before viewing it, wept over it. And now the Jewes have their wish against their wills, their and their cursing revenged. Matth. 27.25. owne curse is returned to their bosome, viz. His bloud bee upon us and our children. For so indeed it was, in such a man­ner and measure, as never before was heard or seene. Besides those that fled out of the City, which were either crucified upon the walls, or slaine by the gates, when Titus made a breach into the City, hee saw all their streets paved in a manner with carkeises, and caemented with bloud: yea, their channels ran with gore so full, that the best meanes they could think of, or use to quench the fire of the Temple, was the bloud of the slaine. And now Jerusalem which had been so free in Their stoning Gods Prophets, and spilling inno­cent bloud, repaid. casting stones at the Pro­phets, and killing them that were sent unto her, (to exhort them to repen­tance unto life, and shewed before of the comming of the Just One, of whom these later Jewes had been the betrayers and murderers) hath not one stone left upon another in her, Acts 7.52. but is made even with the dust; nay, nothing but dust, Sutton. de Tiber. and [...], dirt leavened with bloud, the just tem­per of that Tyrants complexion, in whose reigne the Lord of glory was crucified.

What other conclusion are wee to inferre upon these sad premisses but this, that it is a most fearfull thing to provoke the Lion of the Tribe of Ju­dah? Who shall bee able to stand before him in the great day of his wrath, from whose face the heaven and the earth fled away, 1 Pet. 2.7. Mat. 21.42, 44. and their place could no where be found? The stone which the builders refused, is now become the head of the corner. Take heed how yee stumble on it, or lift at it; Whosoe­ver shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but upon whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grinde him to powder, Vid. mag. de burg. sub. finem. Cent. prim. & Baron. annal. tom. 1. as it did Herod, and Pilate, and Annas, and Caiaphas, and all that were accessary to the death of the Lord of life. And not only those that committed high treason against the sacred person of the Lords Annointed, and imbrued their hands, and stained their conscien­ces with that bloud which cleanseth us from all sinne; 1 John 1.7. but also Nero, and Domitian, and Trajan, and Antoninus, and Severus, and Maximinus, and Decius, and Valerianus, and Dioclesianus, and Maxentius, and all other Emperours that employed their swords; and Simon Magus, and Cerin­thus, and Arrius, and Nestorius, and Manes, and all other obstinate arch-Heretickes, who employed their pens against him: none have hitherto [Page 51] escaped the heavie judgement of God, who have bid battell to the Chri­stian Faith, and have wilfully, and of set malice given the Spouse of Christ the least wound or skarre, either by a gash with their sword, or a scratch with their pen. Bee wise now therefore, O yee Kings: Psal. 2.10, 11, 12. bee instructed yee Judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with feare, and rejoyce with trem­bling. Kisse the Sonne, lest hee bee angry, and yee perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little: blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Some Interpreters by Judgement understand the spirituall govern­ment of Christ, which is managed in his Church with excellent wisedome and judgement; and by Victory, the prevalent power of grace in the faith­full, wherby they are victorious in all temptations, in such sort, that though Sathan labour with all his might to blow out a poore sparke, yet hee shall not be able to quench it: and that the smallest degree of faith, like a grain of mustard seed, is stronger than the gates of hell, and is able to remove mountaines of doubts and oppositions cast up by Sathan, and our rebellious hearts, between God and us. And from hence they inforce the Apostles exhortation to all the souldiers of Christ, to be strong in the Lord, Ephes. 6.10. and in the power of his might; not to looke who are their enemies, but who is our Captaine; not what they threaten, but what hee promiseth, who hath ta­ken upon him, as to conquer for us, so to conquer in us. These are sweet and comfortable notes, but, as I conceive, without the rule of this Text: for questionlesse the Donec, or Untill, is not superfluous, or to no purpose; but hath reference to some future time, when Christs mild proceedings shall be at a period, and he shall take another course with his enemies, such as I have before described in the particular judgement of the Jewish Nati­on, and the generall judgement of the whole World. But if Judgement and Victory bee taken in their sense, there needed no untill to bee added. For Christ even from the beginning of his preaching, when he strived not, nor cryed, nor brake the bruised reed, nor quenched the smoaking flaxe, sent forth judgment unto victory, according unto their interpretation, that is, wise­ly governed his Church, and gave victory to the faithfull in their conflicts with sinne and Sathan. That therefore the members of this sentence bee not co-incident, and that the donec or untill may have his full force, I con­ceive, agreeably to the exposition of the ancient, and the prime of the la­ter Interpreters, that in this clause, Till hee bring forth judgement unto vi­ctory, the Prophet determineth the limits of the time of grace. Whosoe­ver commeth In between the first and second comming of Christ shall be received into favour, but after, the gates of mercy shall bee locked up. Yet our gracious Ahasuerus reacheth out his golden Scepter to all that have a hand of faith to lay hold on it; but then he shall take his Iron mace or rod in his hand, to bruise his enemies, and breake them in pieces like a potters vessell. I must sing therefore with holy David, of Mercy and Judgement; mercy in this life, and judgement in the life to come: mercy during the day of grace, but judgement at the day of the Worlds doom. For although sometimes God meets with the Reprobate in this life, yet that judgement which they feele here may bee accounted mercy in comparison of that which shall be executed upon them hereafter, without all mitigation of fa­vour, [Page 52] release of torments, or limitation of time. Now the vials drop on them, but then they shall bee poured all out upon them. Wherefore let us all, like the bruised reed, fall downe to the earth, and humble our selves un­der the mighty hand of God. Let us, like smoaking flaxe, send forth bitter fumes of sighes for our sinnes, assuring our selves, that now whilst the day of grace lasteth, hee will not breake the bruised reed, nor quench the smoaking flaxe: but if we neglect this time of grace, and deferre our repentance, till he send forth judgement unto victory, we shall smoake for it. Cogitemus fratres de tempore in tempore, ne pereamus cum tempore; Let us thinke of time in time, lest we perish with time. Let us imagine that we now saw the Angel standing upon the sea, Apoc. 10 5, 6. and upon the earth, and lifting up his hand to heaven, and swearing by him that liveth for ever, who created heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the things that are therein, that there should be time no longer. Jonas 2.8. O let us not forsake our owne mercy, but to day if wee will heare his voice, harden not our hearts, but mollifie them, by laying them asoake in teares. Let us breake off our sinnes suddenly by repentance, and our iniquities by almes-deeds. Now is the seed-time, let us now there­fore sow the seeds of faith, hope, mercy, meeknesse, temperance, patience, and all other divine Vertues, and we shall reape a plentifull harvest in hea­ven. Cypr. ad Dom. Hic vita aut a­mittitur aut te­netur, hic saluti aeternae cultu Dei, & fructu fidei provide­tur. Galat. 6.8. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reape corruption; but hee that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reape life everlasting. Which God of his infinite mercy grant that we may all do in heaven, through the merits of his Sonne, by the grace of the holy Spirit: to whom, &c.

THE TRAITORS GUERDON. A Sermon preached on the Gowries conspiracy before his Grace, and divers Lords and persons of eminent quality, at Croydon, August 5. Anno Dom. 1618. THE FIFTH SERMON.

WEe are at this present assembled with religious Rites and sacred Ceremonies, to celebrate the unfortunately fortunate Nones of August, which are noted in red let­ters in the Romane Calendar (as I ghesse) to represent the bloud of many thousand Martyrs spilt upon them: (twenty three whereof were put to most exquisite tor­ments by Dioclesian in Rome) but deserve to be distin­guished from other dayes by golden letters in ours, in memory of two of the most renowned Princes that ever swayed Scepter in these Kingdomes wherein wee live; the one received life, the other escaped death on this day. For Bed. & Baron. in Martyrolog. mens. August. Beda and Baronius in their Church Rolls of Martyrs, record on the fifth of August the nativity of King Oswald; who united the Which were af­ter severed for many ages, but [...]ow by the speci­all providence of Almighty God againe lye loving­ly, encompassing and embracing each the other. Crownes of England and Scotland, and after hee had much enlarged the bounds of Christs Kingdome with his owne, in the end exchanged his Princely Dia­dem [Page 54] for a Crowne of Martyrdome, and signed the Christian Faith with Royall bloud. So happy an uniter of the Royall Diadems, and Princely Martyr of our Nation, should not be forgotten on this day; yet may hee not every way compare with our Rex Pacificus, who hath so fastened these Diadems together, that we hope they shall never be severed againe. Nor is the birth of any Prince by the usuall course of Nature so remarka­ble, as the unheard of, and little lesse than miraculous preservation of our Soveraigne his Royall person, from the bloudy assacinate of the Earle Gowry, and Alexander Ruthen his brother, to the everlasting memory whereof our Church hath consecrated the publike and most solemne de­votions of this day. And therefore wee are now to change the old spell, Quintam fuge, and [...], that is, Carefully shunne the fifth day, into Quintam cole, Religiously observe the fifth day of this Moneth; if not for King Oswald, yet for King James sake: if not for the birth of the one, yet for the safety of the other: if not for the ordinary Genesis and entry of the one into the gate of life, yet for the extraordinary Exodus, or exit of the other out of the chambers of death. Which wonderfull delivery of our gracious Soveraigne that I may print the deeper in your memories, I have borrowed characters from King Davids royall presse as you see: But those that seeke my soule, &c. Ver. 9, 10, 11.

All which Verses, together with their severall parts and commaes, even to the least Iota or tittle, by the direction and assistance of Gods holy Spi­rit, I will make use of in my application, if I may intreat Here he bowed to his Grace. your Gracious patience, and Here he turned to the Lords. your Honourable attention for a while in their explication. And first of the translation, then of the relation of these words, as well to the eternall destruction of the enemies to Christs Crosse, as to the tem­porall punishments of the traitors to Davids Crowne.

The vulgar Latine, upon which the Romane Church so doteth, that she is in love with the errours thereof, as Cic. de orat. Naevus in pue­ro delectat Al­ceum, est defor­mitas in vultu, illi tamen lu­men videbatur. Alceus was with the wirts in his boyes face, rendereth the Hebrew thus: Quaesiverunt in vanum ani­mam meam, introibunt in imâ terrae; They have sought my soule in vaine, they shall goe into the lowest parts of the earth. Of which words in vanum [Page 55] inserted into the Text, I may say as Aristotle doth of the ancient Philoso­phers discourse Aristot. Phys. auscust. c. de Vacuo. [...]. de vacuo, of a supposed place voide of a body to fill it. Their disputes, faith he, of this void or empty space, are empty, void, and to none effect. For neither are they found in any originall copy, as is confes­sed, neither serve they as artificiall teeth to helpe the speech, which soun­deth better without them: yet Cardinall Bellarmine to helpe out the vul­gar Interpreter, with an officious lye beareth us in hand, that his book was otherwise pointed than ours are, and that where we reade [...] he reades [...] as if Leshoath and Leshava, the one signifying to destroy, the other in vaine, differed no more than in prickes or vowels, and not in consonants and radicals; or the sense were so full and currant, they seeke my soule in vaine, as they seeke my soule to destroy it, or for the ruine or destruction thereof they shall goe to the lowest parts of the earth, that is, they that seek to overthrow me, and lay mine honour in the dust, they shall lye in the dust themselves.

They shall fall by the sword. So wee reade in the last translation, and the members of the sentence seeme better to fall and shoot one in the other, if we so reade the words, They shall fall by the edge of the sword, they shall be a portion for Foxes, than if we reade according to the Geneva Transla­tion, They shall cast him downe with the edge of the sword, they shall bee a portion for Foxes. Yet because Calvin, Moller, Musculus, Tremelius, and Junius concurre with the Geneva Translation & Note, understanding these words as a speciall prophecy of Sauls death, who was Davids capitall and singular enemy; and this translation and exposition fitteth better the appli­cation which I am to make of this Scripture to the present occasion: but especially because the Hebrew Jaggirhu signifieth as the last Translators rightly note in the margent, [...] They shall make him runne out like water by the hand of the sword, that is, his bloud shall be spilt by the sword; I pre­ferre the Geneva Translation before the last; and as the Macedonian wo­man appealed from Philip to Philip, so I appeale from the Translators in the Text, to themselves in their Marginall note, and reade the tenth Verse thus: They shall cast him downe, or slay him with the edge of the sword.

Thus having accorded the Translations, I now set to such heavenly lessons, as the Spirit of God hath pricked for us in the rules of this Scrip­ture. The first is pricked in the title of this Psalme, (A Psalme of David when hee was in the wildernesse of Judah) and it is this:

Doctr. 1. That the wildernesse it selfe may be, and is often a Paradise to the ser­vants of God. If the Poet could say of himselfe and his friend, ‘Quo cunque loco Roma duobus erit; Martial. epigr.’ Wheresoever wee two are, wee make that place as Rome to us: have wee not great reason to thinke, that wheresoever God and the faithfull soule are together, and the one enjoyeth the presence of the other, there is Pa­radise, nay, there is Heaven? This sweet flower I gather from this wil­dernesse, to which David was driven by the pursuit of Saul his dreadfull and powerfull enemy. It was a vast and wilde place, a thirsty land without water, verse the first: yet here David is refreshed with waters of comfort, [Page 56] and rivers of pleasure: there was neither Church nor Chappell in it; yet here David seeth the glory of God as in the Sanctuary, verse the second. It was a barren soile, yeelding no manner of sustenance for men or cattell; yet here David is satisfied as with marrow and fatnesse, verse the sixth. It was a hot and scorching place; yet here David findeth a shade to coole himselfe, (viz.) under the shadow of Gods wings, verse the eighth. In regard of which commodities of this wildernesse, I cannot but breake out into the praises of it, as Saint Hierom. epist. ad Heliodor. O Desertum, Christ [...] flori­bus vernans! O Solitudo, in qua illi nascun­tur lapides de quibus in Apo­calypsi civitas magni Regis extruitur! O Eremus, famili­arús Deo gau­dens! Quàm diu te tectorum umbrae pre­munt? quàm di [...] fum sarum u bium ca cer includit? nescio quid hic plus lucis aspicio. Jerome doth into the commendations of the De­sart of Syria: O Wildernesse, enameled with the flowers of Paradise! O Desart, in which those stones grow, of which the heavenly Jerusalem is built! O solitude, enjoying the familiarity of God and his Angels! Why doest thou keep under the shade of houses? Why doest thou shut thy selfe up in the pri­son of smoaky Cities? come hither to mee, thou shalt finde here freer aire, and much more light. Such pleasure this holy Father took in that solitary and uncouth place. And Saint Hilar. con. Auxent. Malè vos parietum amor cepit, montes mihi, & sylvae, & so­litudines, & la­cus, & voragi­nes sunt tutio res; in illis e­nim Propherae aut demersi, aut manentes Dei Spiritu prophe­tabant. Hilary seemeth to be in love with the like places, by those speeches of his: You doe ill to dote upon walls, to build your faith upon stately buildings. I for my part preferre hills and woods, desarts and dens, and caves, and rockes, and lakes, for these have been the habita­tions and lodgings of Gods dearest servants the Prophets. The Law was first given in the Wildernesse of Arabia. The Gospel was first preached by John the Baptist in the Wildernesse of Judeah. The noblest duell that ever was fought, was between Christ and the Divell, and the pitched field was the Wildernesse. The woman that was clothed with the Sunne, and had the Moone under her feet, lived obscurely in the Wildernesse a thousand, two hundred, and sixty dayes: and many of Gods dearest children all the daies of their life, Apoc. 12.6.

The number of whom was so great, and their labours so profitable, and their lives so admirable in the Primitive Church, that as the Prophet spake of the barren woman, that she had more children than she that had an husband; so we may say of the barren soile and wildernesse, that it hath brought forth a greater increase to the Church than many inhabited coun­tries, and better husbanded land. There are divers sorts of plants and fruits, that must be set in the Sunne, or else they will not prosper; but o­thers are scorched with the heate thereof, and better thrive in the shade: such were Paulus Vid. Hieron. in [...]ita Paidi, & Hilarionis; & Marianum. Vi­ctorinum in vita sancti Hieronomi. Eremita, St. Antony, St. Hilarion, St. Basil, S. Jerome, St. Isidore Pelusiotes, and others, which proved the fairest flowers in the garden of the Church, and prime-roses of Christs Spouse, yet grew in the Wildernesse: with whom the Bishops of the greatest Sees may not com­pare, least of all the Bishops of Rome, of whom their owne creature Platina in vi­tis Pontif. Hic Pontifex nihil memoriâ dig­num reliquit: hic pontifex, nisi podagram habuisset, om­nind ignorare­tur. Pla­tina hath often nothing to say, but that he can say nothing: This Pope, saith he, left nothing behind him worth memory. Well fare this Popes gout, but for it he had gone out of the world without any notice taken of him. Baron. tom. 10. ad ann 900. Intrudebantur in Petri sedem meretricum Amasii pseudo-Pontifices, qui non sunt, nisi ad consignanda tempora in Ca­talogo Romanorum Pontificum scripti. Baronius himselfe, who received a Cardinals cap, to burnish the Popes triple golden Mitre, reckons himselfe up a dicker of Popes, who served for nothing but as ciphers to fill up the number of Bishops, or Chronologicall markes to designe the times. But I am affraid, lest I shall lose my selfe in this Wil­dernesse [Page 57] of Ziph; and therefore I will make haste out of it, and come into the rode of my Text.

They that seeke my soule to destroy it, shall goe, &c.

Doctr. 2 Davids confidence in God in this Epitasis of all his troubles, and Crisis of all his affaires, and the height of his hope in the depth of misery, ought to settle fast the anchor of our hope in all the surges of tentations. Wee see in him what is the carriage of Gods Saints in their greatest extremi­ties. They never cast away the buckler of their faith, but lift up their hearts and hands to the God of their salvation, and hope even above hope in him, who is able to save beyond all means. Thus resolute Martin Luther, when he had stirred up the whole world against him, and there was no o­ther appearance, but that the doctrine of the Gospel should have been stifled in the cradle, flyes to his God, layes hold on him by faith, and offe­reth violence unto him by prayer, and never leaveth wrestling with him, till he received comfort from him, and rising up chearfully from his devotion, comes out of his closet triumphantly to his fellow-labourers, saying: Vicimus; We have overcome: at which time Sleidan in com. sui temporis. Vicimus. Sleidan observeth, that there came out a Proclamation from Charles the fifth, that none should bee far­ther molested for the profession of the Gospel. What speake I of a noble Champion of Christ? Numa Pompilius a Heathen King of the Romans, when newes was brought him of his enemies, that they were at hand rea­dy to surprize him, put the messenger off with this memorable speech: Plutarch. a­poph. & in vit. Numae. [...], What tell you me of dangers or enemies? doe you not see that I am about sacrificing to God? Numa his confidence was paralleled by Raleigh hist. of the World. c. 6. lib. 3. Pausa­nias the Lacedemonian Generall, who at Platea, when his Army was over­taken by the enemies horse, and overwhelmed with flights of arrowes; as thicke as haile, quietly sate still, not making any defence or resistance, till the sacrifices for victory were happily ended; yea, though many were hurt and slaine before any good signe appeared in the enirals. But as soon as he had found good tokens of victory, he arose, and with excellent cou­rage received the charge of the Persians, slew Mardonius that commanded in chiefe, and many thousands of the Barbarians. Did Heathen Religion put such courage, and breed such confidence in the worshippers of Idols, that they feared no danger while they were about their superstitious rites? and shall not true Religion beget more noble resolutions in us, who have God bound by promise to deliver us, when we faithfully crave his succour and assistance? Will he not glorifie Psal. 51.15. himselfe by delivering us in time of trou­ble, who calleth upon us, to call upon him, to this end: Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorifie mee? Where­fore, as the Athenians, when they were in greatest danger at sea, accusto­mably cast out the great anchor called the holy Anchor. Whence Eras. adag. ex Lucia. Sacram Anchoram sol­vere dicimur, quando ad ex­tremum praesi­dium confugi­mus. grew the Proverbe, [...]; so when wee are tossed with waves of persecution, and so overwhelmed with violence of tentation, that wee are ready to sinke in despaire, let us lift up our hands to God, and cast anchor in heaven; and though wee see no meanes at all to subsist, yet still hang upon Gods providence. It is scarce possible, that wee should bee put to a greater plunge than David was in this wildernesse, who having but a hand­full of men, and most of them hunger-starved, or fainting for want of wa­ter [Page 58] to quench their thirst, was surrounded by Sauls royall Army; yet in this deplorate, and almost desperate estate, after parley with God by pray­er, shall I say he conceived hope of delivery? nay, hee assureth himselfe of the Crowne, and in a manner insulteth over his enemies, as if they were already under his feet, saying: They that seeke my soule to destroy it, shall go into the lowest parts of the earth. They shall cast him, &c. that is, they that goe about to cast mee downe from my high throne of Majesty, shall fall low themselves; they who seeke to devest mee of my royall Purple and Diadem, shall bee clothed with confusion as with a garment: they who hunt after me, and would make a prey of me, shall be themselves a portion for Foxes: they that seeke my soule to ruine it, shall downe themselves; They shall cast him downe. Doctr. 3 These words in Hypothesi containe a prophecy of Sauls bloudy end, and the desolation of his Army on the mountaines of Gilboa; but in Thesi, a generall judgement of God upon the wicked, whom he entangleth in their owne malice, and punisheth with their owne sinne, and bringeth to confusion by their owne order.

Which Verses of the prophane Poet may be thus translated, and they be­come sacred Oracles: The Psal. 7.15, 16. ungodly shall be trapped in the works of his own hands: he made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which hee made; his mischiefe shall returne upon his owne head, and his violent dealing shall come downe upon his owne pate. For it is just with God to mete to the wicked their owne measure, as he did to the accusers of Shadrach, Mesach, and Abednego, who were burned in the fire of that furnace which they had caused to be Daniel 3.22. heat seven times more than ordinary for those three noble Confessors. And to the traducers of Daniel, who were cast to the Lions, which they kept Daniel 6.24. fasting, on set purpose, that they might make but one morsell of the Prophet. And to Ester 7.10. Haman, who had the honour to bee hanged on that high gallows, to which he would have preferred Mordecai. And to Judges 1.7. Adonibezeck, who when his thumbes were cut off by Judah, beshrewed his owne fingers, saying: Threescore and ten Kings, having their thumbes and great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: As I have done, so God hath requited mee. All ages yeeld examples in the like kinde, insomuch that the Heathen themselves have taken notice of Gods using the wickeds mete-wand, to measure out their own ruine. Thraseus in­structing Busirus how to expiate the wrath of the gods, by the effusion of strangers bloud, was first himselfe sacrificed, and constrained to write a probatum est under that conclusion with his owne bloud:

What Puny in the Schooles hath not read Ovids golden Motto upon Perillus his brasen Bull:

There can be no juster law, than that the devisers of mans ruine should rue [Page 59] their owne devices, and that the inventers of new deaths should dye by their owne inventions. Sciron Plutarch. in Theseo. the Giant, that sate upon the cleft of a high rocke, and kicked downe all that scrambled up to it into the sea, was him­selfe served in the like manner by Theseus, who comming behind him, push't him downe with his foot into the deep. And Termerus, who had a strange fashion of beating out mens braines, by playing at hard head with them, in the end met with his match at that barbarous sport, and lost the little braine he had, his skull being broken by Hercules. What should I re­late the tragedy of an agent of Pope Beno Cardina­lis devita & gest Hildeb. Hildebrands, who standing upon a planke in the roofe of a Church in Rome, and taking up a huge stone to cast down upon the Emperour, when he was at his devotion, by the waight of the stone and his owne, the planke brake under him, and hee fell downe into the floore, having his braines struck out by the rowling of that stone upon him? Or of Laurentius Medices, who having fitted a flesh-baite for Bodin l. 4. de rep. Alexander Medices, and as he was greedily catching at it, being naked and disarmed, set a desperate villaine, in the habit of a Masquer, to stabbe him with a Stilletto; and himselfe was shortly after stilletoed at Venice, by a suborned Traitor at a Masque, in the habit of a Whiffler? The ancient Ro­mans glanced at this retaliation in their sacrifices to Ceres and Bacchus, to whom they offered Swine and Goats, because these of all creatures most annoy corne and wine:

I will not charge your memory with more examples at this present than of Pope Bodin. l. 6. de rep. Alexander the sixth, who was poysoned in that very cup, through a mistake, and with that very potion, which he prepared for the Cardinals of the opposite faction: and of the Suet. in Jul. Caes. conspirators against Julius Caesar in the Senate, who most of them were slaine with the same daggers numero, wherewith they had stabbed him before: and of Saul, who fell upon that sword of his, which he sought to draw through Davids bowels; as he here prophesieth of him: They shall cause him or his bloud to run out like water by the hand of the sword, (viz.) his owne sword.

Doctr. 4 And they shall be a portion for Foxes.

Beasts were given to men for their food, Unnaturall pu­nishment for unnaturall crimes. but here men are given to beasts for a prey. A lamentable spectacle to see the vilest of all creatures ra­venously feast themselves with the flesh of the noblest; and irrespectively hale and teare in pieces the casket, which whilome inclosed the richest jewell in the world. Is it not against the law of Nature, that men should become beasts meat; yea, the meat of such beasts as are carrion, and not mans meat? Questionlesse it is: yet Nature giveth her consent to this kind of punishment of unnaturall crimes. For it is consonant to reason, that the law of Nature should be broken in their punishment, who brake it in their sinne; that they who devoured men like beasts, should bee devoured of beasts like men: that they, who with their hands offered unnaturall vio­lence [Page 60] to their Soveraigne, should suffer the like by the clawes and teeth of wilde beasts, their slaves: that they, who bare a Foxe in their breast in their life, should been tombed in the belly of a Foxe at their death.

Saint August in Psal. 62 Jud ei ideo voluerunt Christum [...]cci­dere ne terram perderent; ideo terram perdiderunt, quia Christum occiderunt: quia repulerant Agnum, & ele­gerunt Vul­pem, ideò prae­da Vulpium facti sunt. Austin, expounding this whole prophecy of Christ, yeeldeth a speciall reason of this judgement of God, by which the Jewes were con­demned to Foxes. The Jewes, saith hee, therefore killed Christ, that they might not lose their countrey; but indeed they therefore lost their countrey, because they killed Christ: because they refused the Lambe, and chose Herod the Foxe before him, therefore by the just retribution of the Almighty, they were allotted to the Foxes for their portion. Notwithstanding this allusion of Saint Austin to Foxes in speciall, Jansenius and other Expositors extend this grant in my Text to all wilde beasts and fowles, which are, as it were, in patent with the Foxe, and have full power and liberty given them to seize upon the corps of Traitors to God and their Country. But Foxes beare the name, because they abound in those parts, where was such store of them, that Sampson in a short time with a wet finger caught three hun­dred, so that upon the matter, they shall be a portion for Foxes, is all one with that doome in the Hom. Il. 1. Poet:

They shall be exposed to the teeth of every cruell beast, and to the bill and talons of every ravenous fowle.

I might insist upon the severall branches of this Scripture with delight and profit, but because the occasion of our meeting at this present is ra­ther to offer unto God the fruits of our devotion for his Majesties and our enemies destruction, than to gather fruits of knowledge from Scripture for our instruction; I descend from the generall explication of the whole, to the particular application of the parts: and first, I will shew you how this prophecy, according to the severall members thereof, was accomplished in Christ Davids Lord, then in David the Lords Christ, and last of all in King James our David.

Saint Austin, Saint Jerome, Arnobius, and almost all the ancient Inter­preters of this propheticall Psalme, understand the letter spiritually of Christ; on the other side, Calvin, Musculus, Mollerus, and others under­stand the spirit literally of David. I know no reason why we may not spell them together, and of two make one perfect and compleat interpretation of this Scripture. Wherefore to avoid vaine jangling, where the golden bels of Aaron may bee orderly rung, and distinctly heard; for the literall exposition, I accord with the later Interpreters, yet beare a part with the Ancients in their spirituall descant upon the ground of the letter; the rather, because David is a knowne type of Christ: and therefore by the law of con­traries, Saul and his host of Sathan or Antichrist, and their infernall troups; but especially, because (as Cal [...]in. epist. ad Fran. gallo. reg. Nusquam legi­mus reprehen­sos quod nimi­um de fonte aquae vivae hauserint. Calvin piously observeth) that wee never read of any blamed for drawing too much water out of the Well of life; so it is most certaine, that we cannot offend in ascribing too much honour to the King of glory. Then take the cliffe as you please, the notes will follow according­ly; if you take it higher from Christ, thus the notes follow: They that seek my soule to destroy it, that is, Herod and Pilate, Scribes and Pharisees, Ru­lers [Page 61] and people that conspire against the Lord, and against his annointed, to take away his life from the earth, they I say shall goe into the lowest parts of the earth; that is, the nethermost hell, without repentance: they shall make him run out like water; that is, Pilat, who in discontent was driven to slay himselfe; as also did Saul, to whom the letter pointeth: or, as we reade in my text, They shall fall by the edge of the sword; that is, the Nation of the Jewes shall fall by the sword of the Romans: who shall make such a slaugh­ter of them at Jerusalem, where they crucified Christ, that the channels shall run with gore bloud, and the streets be strowed with dead carkasses, left unburied for a prey to the fowles of heaven, and every ravenous beast: but the King, viz. the King of glory, and Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus, shall rejoyce in God, and triumph at the right hand of his Father; and every one that sweareth by him, and putteth his trust in him, shall glory in these his victories. But the mouth of all Jewes and Gentiles, Turkes and Infidels, A­theists and Idolaters, that belch out blasphemies against him, shalbe stopped when he shall come in the glory of his Father, with his elect Angels, and sit in judgement upon quicke and dead. Hieron epist ad Heliod. Tunc quod vocem in­bae pavebit ter­ra cum populis, & tu gaudebis. Judicaturo Domino lu­gubrè mun­dus immugiet, tribus ad tribum pectora ferient, Potentissimi quo [...]dam reges nudo latere pulpitabunt, ex­hibebitur cum prole sua vere tunc ignitus Ju­piter, adduce­tur & cum suis stultus Plato discipulis, Ari­stotelis argu­menta non pro­derunt. Tunc tu rusticanus & pauper exulta­bis, & ridebis, & dices, ecce crucifixus Deus meus ecce Ju­dex qui obvo­lutus pannis in praesepio vagiit: hic est ille ope­rarii & quaestu­ariae filius, hic qui matris ge­status sinu ho­minem Deus fugit in Egyp­tum, hic vestitus coccino, hic sen­tibus coronatus: cerne manus Judae e quas fix­eras: cerne la­tus Romane quod foderas. Then at the sound of the last trumpe the earth shall tremble with the inhabitants, but thou O Christian shalt rejoyce. When thy Lord comes to judge, the world shall roare hideously, all the kindreds of the earth shall smite their breasts; the most puissant Kings shall appeare without their guard, panting for feare: Jupiter himselfe (the chiefe Idoll of all the heathen) with all his off-spring, shall be seene all in true fire: foolish Plato shall be brought with his disciples; Aristotles sophistry shall stand him in no stead. Then thou poore and simple countrey swaine shalt leap for joy, and say, Behold my God who was crucified, behold the Judge who sometimes wrapt in swadling clothes cryed in a manger: this is the Carpenters sonne, this is he who borne in his mothers armes being God fled from man into Aegypt: this he who was clad in purple, and crowned with thornes: see O Jew the hands which thou nailedst: view O Roman the side which thou diggedst with thy speare: behold O Jew the head which thou prickedst with thornes, now compas­sed with radiant beames: behold the face thou defiledst with spittle, shining brighter than the Sun: behold the hands thou woundedst with Iron nailes, holding a rod of Iron, and bruising his enemies like a potters vessell: behold O Roman the naked side which thou piercedst with a speare, now guarded with a troupe of Angels with their polaxes: behold the body thou strippedst starke naked, cloathed with light as with a garment. In a word, behold him whom thou esteemedst the scorne of the earth, made now the glory of the hea­vens, in a triumphant march, with millions of Saints and Angels, riding on bright clouds, as it were fiery chariots, through the aire, to execute speedie vengeance upon all his enemies, and to take up all the elect with him into heaven: Apoc. 22.20. Etiam sic veni Domine Jesu; Even so come Lord Jesu, come quickly.

You have heard how sweet and heavenly the musicke is, if you take the highest cliffe from Christ; if you take the middle from David, thus the notes follow; They that seeke my soule to destroy it, that is, my bloud-thirsty ene­mies, shall goe into the lowest parts of the earth; that is, either enter into their graves, or hide themselves in caves of the earth: they shall make him to run out like water; that is, cause Saul my capitall and mortall enemie to spill his [Page 62] owne bloud, by falling upon his owne sword.

And they shall be a portion for foxes. This clause of the prophecie was not fulfilled in Saul his person, nor his sonnes, for 1 Sam. 31.12.13. their flesh was burnt and their bones buried under a tree at Jabesh: but in his servants and souldiers, which mortally wounded on the mounts of Gilboa, and being not able to helpe themselves, nor having any to burie them after they had breathed out their last gasp, fell to the foxes share: and therefore David purposely al­tereth the number, saying not they shall cast him downe, and he shall bee a portion for foxes; but they shall be a portion for foxes, as in the truth of the story afterwards they fell to the foxes commons. Now after the death first of Saul, and the discomfiture of his royall armie, and the overthrow after­wards of the Philistims, and destruction of all his enemies round about; King David, sitting safely and quietly in his throne, full of joy and comfort, breaketh forth into a Psalme of thanks-giving to God for his wonderfull victories and strange deliverances, and all the loyall subjects of Judah and Israel beare a part with him in it: whereat all those that before had falsely traduced his person, or impugned his right to his crowne, were put to si­lence and shame.

Thus have I set the tune in my text to the middle key also, and as you heare the musicke is sweet; if you will have the patience to heare it once more set to the lowest key, you will all perceive that every note in it confor­teth not onely with our voices, but our thoughts and affections at this pre­sent. I have shewed you how this prophecy in my text was fulfilled in Christ, Davids Lord, and secondly, in David the Lords Christ: may it please you out of your love to him, to whose honour you have dedicated this feast, to stretch out your patience to the length of the houre, and I shall briefly exemplifie the same in our Israels David. To resume then the words of this Scripture, and by the parts of it to draw the lineaments of that nar­ration, which shall serve for my conclusion. First, I will relate unto you the attempt of the conspirators the Earle Gowrie and Alexander Ruthen his brother, and their complices, by the occasion of these words, They that seek my soule to destroy it. Secondly, the event, by occasion of the words follow­ing, shall goe to the lowest parts of the earth, &c.

They that seeke my soule to destroy it. Were there ever any such? or are there any at this day? Doth hee breathe that would goe about to stop the Sen. de clem. l. 1. c. 4. Ille est vin­culum per quod respublica co­heret, ille est spiritus vitalis quem tot millia trahunt. breath which so many thousands draw? Doth the Sun give light to any that would go about to quench the light of Israel? can the earth bear any such an ungratefull and gracelesse varlet, whose conscience is burthened with so heavie and heinous a sin as Parricide in the highest degree; laying violent hands upon the Father of his countrey, whom for his clemencie and wise­dome the world at this day cannot parallel? Yes beloved, this hath beene the lot of the best Princes that ever ware corruptible Crownes. Suet. in vita Tui. Titus sir­named Delitiae humani generis, The darling of mankinde, drew this lot; and Sen. de clem. l. 1. c. 9. Severitate nihil profecisti: Salvid enum Lepidus secu­tus est, Lepi­dum Muraena, Muraenam Caepio Caepio­nem Egnatius, ut alios taccam, quos tantum ausos pudet. Augustus before him, the mirrour of mildnesse, ‘Quo nihil immensus mitius orbis habet.’ And David before them both, a man after Gods owne heart;

Moses the meekest Magistrate that ever drew the sword of Justice had a murmuring Core, and his Majestie a mutinous Gowrie, Num. 16.32. and a brother in ini­quity, Ruthwen; both bearing as the hearts so the names of two ancient most infamous Rebels and Traytors, the one of Core, whom the earth swal­lowed up: the other of Sueton. in vita Tib. Ruthenius a desperate caitife, that attempted a like villanie upon the person of Tiberius, to that which Ruthwen would have acted upon the person of King James.

• Nomen
• Omen

• Core
• Gowry

• Ruthenius
• Ruthwen

conveniunt rebus nomina saepe suis.

As their names were ominous, so their facts were abominable. It is pi­tie it should be so, yet it is certaine that it is so. A Prince Plin. in panegir. Potest iniqui Princeps, potest tamen odio esse nonnullis, eti­amsi ipse non oderit. may be hated by some, (wrongfully I grant) yet hated he may be though he hate no man; and that which is to be bewailed with bloudy teares, he may have bloody treasons plotted against him, though his innocencie be Sen de clem. l. 1. c 11. Nullam te toto orbe stil­lam cruoris hu­mani mifisse. untainted with the effusion of the least drop of bloud: for ambition is a sworne enemy to so­veraignty, envie to eminencie, libertie to law, disorder to justice, faction to peace, schisme to unity, heresie to true religion: whereby it comes to passe that Princes, who are to right all men, are themselves most wronged of all men, by mis-information of their subjects demeanours towards them, and mis-construction of their actions, and proceedings, and affections also to­wards their subjects. You will yet say, be it that the actions of Princes are subject to censure, and their persons, though sacred, yet sometimes lie open to violence: howsoever, if they establish their throne with judgement, and support their scepter with equity, their innocencie shalbe a perpetuall guard unto them, and the arme of the Almighty shall be a buckler of steele over them, and the love of subjects shall be a wall of brasse about them; so that the enemie shall not be able to hurt them, the sonnes of wickednesse shall not come neere them. Notwithstanding all this, it pleaseth him, by whom Kings reigne, either to make Princes to walk more humbly before him, and more warily before their subjects; or for the greater triall of their faith in grea­test distresses, or cleerer manifestation of his power in their delivery, to ex­pose their persons to imminent dangers, and suffer them to be led to the brinke of destruction, and to be entangled in the snares of death. How did he suffer Camerarius meditat. histor. c. 27.30. Charles the fifth to ascend to the top of the Pantheon in Rome, and there to looke out of a great gallery window, where there was a desperate villaine set to take him up by the heeles and throw him downe headlong? How did hee suffer that staine of the French Nobility to approach neare Augustus in the dangerous passage of the Alpes, with a purpose to justle him out of the narrow path into the steepe of the hill, where it was impos­ble to stay himselfe? Was not Titus past all mans helpe, and given over for dead a thousand times, when scouting out with a few to spie the ene­mies campe, at the siege of Jerusalem, he fell unawares into an ambush, and [Page 64] was constrained to passe through a volly of darts and arrowes, cast and shot at him, whereof some fell before him, some behind him, many on each side of him: yet by Gods marvellous protection not one fastened on him? Was not Fredericke the first at the brinke of destruction by the river side, when a souldier tooke hold on him, and clasped about him to draw him with him­selfe into the deep and drown him? Had not Cambd. in vit. Reg. Eliz. Parry the meanes and op­portunity to parley with Queene Elizabeth of famous memory in her garden privately, with a dagger in his hand, and a dag charged? These and many other presidents of the like nature make me the lesse marvaile that God should suffer Ruthwen, with a golden hooke, (a pot full of Vid l. Angl. scrip. de conjura. Gowr. outlandish coyne) to draw his Majestie through divers chambers, which hee still locked after them, into that dismall study which was more fearefull than any Jesuits chamber of meditation; in which they shut up their desperate instruments to cracke their braines, and fit them for horrid designes. For there are but pictures onely of Divels, and Images of severall kindes of death; but here were very Divels incarnate, and death it selfe. Bookes he saw none in this study, but those two mentioned by Sutton in vita Calig. Suetonius, in which Caligula wrote the names of those men whose heads he meant to take off; calling the one of them, which was longer, gladium, the sword; the other, which was shorter, pugionem, the dagger. The subject he was now to medi­tate upon was a bloudie assacinate, and the points he was to handle, no other than the sharpe ends of swords and rapiers. Made then he was to beleeve that he should there take an outlandish man, with great store of treasure; but he found an armed man, ready to take away that from him which was more precious unto him than all the jewels in the world. Here wee see what a soveraigne care the Highest hath over soveraigne Princes his vice­gerents on earth, and what a terrour sacred Majestie striketh into the hearts of barbarous and bloudie traitors. The Italian varlet had not the power to lift at Charles the fifth: with a lift onely he had throwne him out of the window. The French miscreant had not the power to push at Augustus: with a push only he had broken his neck downe the steepe Alpes. Parry had not the power to draw the pin of his fire-lock: upon the moving but of a pinne the dag had gone off in his hand, and the Queene had beene shot through the heart. Parry's dag fell out of his hand, and Hendersons dag­ger stucke in his hand; he could no more stirre it than the souldier at Min­ternum, who drew upon Caius Marius, but was not able to strike a stroke, nor make a thrust at him.

Howbeit, though Hendersons faint heart and benummed hand would not serve him to act his bloudie part; yet the Divell so hardened Ruthwen, that he tooke out the other dagger, and set the point thereof at his Maje­sties royall breast. And now if ever any lay inter Eras. adag. sacrum & saxum, be­tweene the axe and the blocke, or Theo [...]ri. in dios­c [...]. [...], upon the edge of the razor, or in ipsis fati Cic. Catilin. [...]ai. 2. faucibus, in the very chops of destinie, or jawes of death it selfe; at the point lay the hope then, and now the joy and life of us all. [Page 65] Alone, in a remote place, his servans and attendants barred from him by many doores locked and bolted, himselfe destitute of all weapons, betweene two Conspirators, with a poynard bent to his heart. O King live for ever, is not thy God whom thou servest able to deliver thee from this perill of death? Could hee not snatch thee out of the paw of the Lion? Could hee not have strucke downe both the Conspirators dead to the floore with a thunderbolt from heaven, or at the least taken away the use of Ruthwens limbes, drying up that hand that presumed to touch the apple of his owne eye, the sacred person of our Soveraigne? With a word he could, but it seemed best to his all-sweetly-disposing providence wonderfully to preserve his Majestie, yet without a miracle. For if he had rescued him by any such miraculous meanes as I named before, there had beene no occasion offered, nor place left for his Majesties faithfull servants to stake their lives for their Master: neither had the world taken such no­tice of his Majesties rare gift of eloquence, by the force whereof, like an­other Cic. de orat. l. 3. Antonie, intentos gladios jugulo retudit, he stayed the Traitors hand, and delayed the intended blow: first, clearing his owne innocencie from the aspersion of bloud in the execution of the Traitors father, by course of justice, in his Majesties minority; then recounting to him the many princely favours he had conferred upon his brother, himselfe, and all their kindred: but especially laying before his eyes the horrour of the guilt of embruing his hands in the bloud of the Lords annointed; which said he, if my children and subjects should not revenge, the stones out of the wall, and the beames of the timber, conscious of such a villanie, would execute ven­geance upon thee for so unnaturall, barbarous, and bloudie an act. In fine he promised in the word of a King, pardon for all the violence he had hi­therto offered him, if he would yet relent and desist from his murtherous in­tent and attempt of spilling royall bloud. At which words Ruthwens heart, though of Adamant, began to relent and give in; in such sort, that hee gave his Majestie a time to breathe, and offer up prayers with strong cries to the God of his salvation, who heard him in that hee feared, as you shall heare anon. In the interim, Ruthwen consults with the Earle Gowrie his brother, and according to the Latine Eras. adag. Aspis a vipera sumit venenum proverbe, the aspe suckes poyson from the viper, wherewith he swelleth, and brusling up himselfe, flies at his Majestie the second time to sting him to death, and wrapping about him, begins to bind his royall hands; who nothing appalled at the hide­ous shape of death within a fingers breadth of his heart, answers like himselfe, that he was borne free, and would die free and unbound: forth­with he unlooseth his hands, and with one of them clasping the Trai­tors sword, with the other he grapples with him, and, after much strug­gling, his Majestie draweth the Traitor to the window, by which it so plea­sed God to dispose for his Majesties safety, that some of his Majesties ser­vants passed at that very instant, and both heard and saw in part, in what distresse his Majestie was, and made all possible speed to rescue him: but before they could force a way through so many doores, the King by power from above got the Traitor under him, and drew him by maine force to the top of the staire-case; where soone after the Kings servants, forcibly breaking through all barres, bolts and lockes, met with him, [Page 66] and throwing him downe staires sent him with many wounds to his owne place, verifying the letter of this prophecie in the confusion of our Davids enemies, qui quaerunt praecipitium animae meae, they which seeke the downe­fall of my soule, they shall goe or rather tumble downe with a witnesse. And so I passe from the Traitors attempt to the event and happy catastrophe, on the Kings part, of this not fained Interlude.

They shall goe downe. By this time as I intimated but now, the Kings ser­vants partly made, and partly found their way into the study, rushing in to save the life of their Soveraigne; where they had no sooner dispatched one of the brothers Alexander Ruthwen, but the other brother the Earle, with seven of his servants well appointed, encountreth them. The skir­mish growes hot betweene them; these fighting for their lives, they for their Soveraigne; these animated by hope, they whet on by desperation, After many wounds given and received on both sides, they of the Kings part, according to the words of the tenth verse, cast him down; or, as it is in the Hebrew, make his bloud spin or run out like water on the ground: his, I say, the arch-Traitor the Earle Gowrie, who may be compared to Saul Da­vids chiefe enemie; whose downefall the spirit in the pronoune in the sin­gular number him pointeth at, in many respects, but especially in this, that he tooke counsell of the Divell to murther the Lords Annointed. For as Saul conferred with the Witch at Endor before he put himselfe into the field which he watered with his bloud, so the Earle Gowrie, before hee entred into this Acheldamah field of bloud, pitched by himselfe, hee made the Divell of his counsell, and was found with many magicke cha­racters about him when he fell by the edge of the sword.

If any man question how it could so fall out that Alexander Ruthwen, being more nimble, strong, and expert in wrestling, and having many wayes advantage on his Majestie, should not throw him downe, or get him under him; I answer out of the words immediately going before my text, dextra Jehovae sustentabat eum, the right hand of the Lord supported him the King: by whose speciall providence it was ordered, that his Majesties servants should passe by the window at the very moment when his Majestie looked out; as also, that some of them should finde that blinde way by the turne-pecke into the studie which the Earle Gowrie caused to bee new made for this his divellish enterprise. Therefore his Majestie, as soone as the bloudie storme was blowne over, kneeled downe in the middest of all his servants, and offered up the calves of his lips to the God of his life; promising a perpetuall memorie of this his deliverie, and professing that hee assured himselfe that God had not preserved him so wonderfully for nought, but that he reserved him for some greater worke and service to his Church, as wee see this day. There remaineth yet one clause in my text; And the mouth of every one that speaketh lies shall bee stopped: and answerably an appendix to the narration of the conspiracie of the Gowries, for stopping the mouthes of all that shall call in question the truth of that relation. Which besides the conscience of his Majesty, the deposition of his servants, the publicke justice of the Parliament of Scotland, the solemne piety and devo­tion of the Churches of great Brittaine and Ireland, was sixteene yeeres af­ter the plotting thereof, and eight yeeres after the acting confirmed by the [Page 67] publicke, free, and voluntarie confession of Vid. a booke intituled, the examination of G. Sprot, pub­lished with a learned preface to it by G.A. Dr. D. and Dean of Winchester. George Sprot, arraigned and executed at Edinburgh for it.

Thus have I fitted each member of this prophecy to the severall parts of the storie of his Majesties deliverance as on this day: betweene which there is such good correspondencie, that the prophesie seemeth text to the storie, and the storie a commentarie on the prophesie. Ob­serve I beseech you the harmony of them, and let your heart dance with joy at every straine.

1. The first is, They that seeke my soule to destroy it, shall goe downe, &c. This was exemplified, and according to the letter accomplished in Alexander Ruthwen, who sought the ruine of our David, and was himselfe throwne downe the staires, and after part of him into the lowest parts of the earth, a deepe pit, into which his bowels were cast.

2. The second is, They shall cast him downe by the edge of the sword. This was accomplished in the Earle Gowrie, whom the Kings servants smote in the study with the edge of the sword, that hee died and fell at their feet.

3. The third is, And they shall be a portion for foxes; that is, lie unbu­ried for a prey to the fowles of heaven, and beasts of the earth: this was accomplished in all the Traitors, who were according to the Lawes of the kingdome hanged, drawne and quartered, and their quarters set up upon the most eminent parts of the Citie, where the fowles preyed upon them till they dropped downe to the ground, and were made an end of by some ravenous beasts.

4. The fourth is, The King shall rejoyce in God. This was literally verified in our King, who joyfull after hee was plucked out of the jawes of death, gave publicke thankes to God, and ascribed the whole glo­ry of his deliverance and victorie over his enemies to his gracious good­nesse; and in memorie of this so great a benefit, commanded this feast, which wee now celebrate, to be solemnly kept in all his Dominions yeerely.

5. The fifth is, And all that sweare by him, that is, all which worship the true God, the God of our Jacob; or all that sweare to him, that is, alle­giance to his Majestie, shall glorie. This, as it was accomplished in other congregations, so is it in us here present, assembled to glorie in the Lord for this wonderfull delivery of their then, and now also our Sove­raigne.

6. The sixt and last is, And the mouth of all that speake lies shall bee stopped. This was also fulfilled by the meanes of George Sprot, who by his pious behaviour, and penitent confession at his death, and a signe which he promised to shew after his breath should be stopped, and according­ly performed (after he had hanged a great while, clapping his hands a­bove his head) stopped the mouth of all such as before spake lies against the truth of the precedent relation. To the lively expression whereof, I have borrowed, as you see, Davids princely characters, and set the presse, placing each letter in his ranke, and part in his order. What remaineth but that I pray to God by his spirit to stampe them in our hearts, and so im­print [Page 68] them in our memories, that he that runneth may reade our thank­fulnesse to God for this deliverance, and confidence in his future prote­ction of our Soveraignes person, and love and loyaltie to his Majestie, whom God hath so strangely saved from the sword, to save the sword from us; that in peace and safety he might receive and sway the Scepter of these Kingdomes of great Brittaine and Ireland. Which long may hee, with much prosperity and honour, to the glory of God, and propagation of the truth, libertie, and safetie of the Church and Common-wealth, ex­ceeding joy and comfort of all his friends, and remarkeable shame and confusion of his implacable enemies. So bee it. Deo patri, &c.

THE LORD PROTECTOR OF PRINCES; OR DEUS ET REX, GOD AND THE KING. A Sermon appointed to be preached before his Grace at Croydon, August 5. 1620. THE SIXTH SERMON.

THat manifold, or (to make a new compound to translate a compound) in the Originall Eph. 3.10. [...]. multivarious wisedome and goodnesse of God, which hath illustrated the firmament with varietie of starres, some more, some lesse glistering and glorious; enamell'd the meadowes with choyce of flowers, some more, some lesse beautifull and fragrant; in­riched the sands of the Sea with pearle, some more, some lesse orient; and veines of the earth with metals, some more, some lesse pre­tious: hath also decked and garnished the Calendar of the Church with va­riety of Feasts, some more, some lesse holy and solemn. You may observe a kinde of Hierarchy among them; some have a preheminence over the rest, [Page 70] which we call greater and higher Feasts. Among which this day challen­geth his place, on which we refresh the memorie of his Majesties rescue out of the prophane and impious hands of the Earle Gowry and Alexander Ruthwen. A paire of unnaturall brethren; brethren in nature, and brethren in a most barbarous and unnaturall attempt against their Soveraigne the Lords annointed: brethren by bloud, and brethren also in bloud: who by the just judgement of God cleansed that study with their owne bloud, which they would have for ever stained by the effusion there of the Roy­all bloud of the most innocent Prince that ever sate on that or this Throne: whom almighty God seemeth not so much to have preserved from those imminent dangers he then escaped, as reserved for these unvaluable bles­sings we now enjoy by the prorogation of his life; enlarging of his Scep­ter and propagation of his Issue. In his life the life of our hope is revived; in his Scepter the Scepter of Christ is extended; in his stocke the root of Jesse is propagated, and shall, I hope, flourish to the end of the world. For this cause the King shall rejoyce, &c. he shall rejoyce in thee, we in him; he in thy strength, we in his safetie; both in thy salvation. Here is God assi­sting, and the King trusting: God saving, and the King rejoycing: God blessing, and the King praising: lastly, the King desiring, and God satisfi­ing his desires to the full, as you may see through the whole Psalme. In this verse you may discerne three remarkeable conjugations or couples.

• 1. God is joyned with the King.
• 2. Strength with confidence.
• 3. Salvation with exceeding great joy. And thus they depend each of other.

• 1. The King of God.
• 2. Confidence of strength.
• 3. Joy of salvation.

• 1. God exalteth the King.
• 2. Strength begetteth confidence.
• 3. Salvation bringeth with it exceeding joy.

• 1. God is above the King.
• 2. Salvation is above strength.
• 3. Exceeding joy above confidence.

If the King seeke God, in him he shall find strength, and in his strength salvation, and in his salvation exceeding great joy. Marke the word King; it standeth as a cliffe before a song, which directeth the singers how to tune the notes, and lift up or depresse their voyces. If the King stand here as a lower cliffe for David, then strength is aid, salvation victory, rejoycing thanks-giving: but if the word King be set as an higher cliffe for Christ, then strength here is omnipotencie, salvation redemption of mankinde, re­joycing the exaltation of the humane nature to the highest degree of cele­stiall glory and happinesse. This heavenly Manna of Evangelicall doctrine which the Fathers finde within the golden pot, that is, the inward sense of [Page 71] the words; the Jewish Rabbins note to be carved in the outside of the let­ter: to speake yet somewhat plainer, that minde and meaning which the Christian Expositors make of the words, by referring them to the truth whereof David was a type, they gather from the very characters, for [...] transposed, is [...], the Anagram as it were of the word which sig­nifieth to rejoyce is Mesiach, that is, Christ, or the annointed.

Now the title of King is attributed to Christ in Scriptures sometimes ab­solutely, sometimes with additions; but such as make him more absolute, exalting his crowne as farre above all corruptible crownes as the heaven is above the earth. For his stile given by the sacred Heralds is King immor­tall, King of Heaven, King of righteousnesse, Prince of peace, Lord of life, Lord of quicke and dead, Lord of all, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. This heavenly crowne in glorie, as much obscuring the lustre of earthly Diadems as the Sun doth the least blinking starre, belongeth to our head Christ Jesus by a threefold right:

• 1. Of birth.
• 2. Of donation.
• 3. Of conquest.

His birth giveth it him; for he is the first born of the Father, and therefore Gal. 4.1. heire of all things, and Lord of all.

By gift also he hath it. Psal. 2.8. Luke 1.32. The Lord God shall give unto him the Throne of his Father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever. Aske of mee, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy posses­sion.

It is his also by conquest, for he hath overcome the world, John 16.33. he hath conquered hell and death, and hath the keyes of both, Rev. 1.18. If you demand where his throne is, I answer, above at the right hand of his Father, Psal. 110.1. below in the hearts of all the faithfull, whom he ruleth by the Scepter of his word.

Thus much for the cliffe, I set now to the notes, which are either

• 1. In rule.
• 2. In space.

1 The note in space I take from the coherence of this Psalm with the for­mer; the last words of the former Psalme are Salvum fac Regem, Lord save the King, or Save Lord, let the King heare when we call: the first of this, Exultabit Rex in salute, The King shall rejoyce in thy salvation. That which there the Church prayeth for the King, here the King praises God for. The Chuch prayeth God there, ver. 1. The name of the God of Jacob defend thee, send thee helpe, and strengthen thee out of Sion. And ver. 4. grant thee thy hearts desire, and fulfill all thy mind: and doth not the King in this Psalme trace the former footsteps, and follow the same notes in this Psalme of thanks-giving? The King shall rejoyce in thy strength, ver. 1. And, thou hast given him his hearts desire, ver. 2. What instance I in divers Psalmes? In the same Psalme, for the most part, in the beginning the Pro­phet soweth in teares, and in the end reapeth in joy; in the beginning hee complaineth, in the ending he prayseth; in the beginning he cries for sor­row, [Page 72] in the end he sings for joy; in the beginning we have a storme of pas­sion, in the end the sunshine of Gods favour. The countenance of the Pro­phet, drawne to the life in this booke of Psalmes, resembleth the picture of Diana at Delphos, quae intrantibus tristis, exeuntibus hilaris videbatur, the face whereof seemed to frowne upon all at their comming in, but to smile upon them at their going out. Such a copie of Davids countenance wee have Psal. 6. lowring at the first verse, Lord rebuke mee not in thine anger, &c. but clearing up at ver. 8. Depart from me yee workers of iniquitie, for the Lord hath heard the voyce of my weeping. How dolefully doth the 22. Psalme begin? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken mee? but how sweetly doth it conclude from ver. 22. to the end? I will declare thy Name to my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee, &c. O the wonderfull power and efficacy of prayer, which in a moment pier­ceth the clouds, and bringeth backe a blessing before wee can imagine it is gone out of our lips! Like a piece of Ordnance highly mounted it battreth the walls of heaven before the report thereof be heard on earth. No na­turall agent produceth any effect before it selfe be produced: nothing bringeth forth before it selfe is brought forth: yet prayer worketh often­times before it is made, and bringeth forth some good effect before it selfe is perfectly conceived: for God understandeth the thoughts before the notions are framed; he heareth the heart dictating, before the tongue, like the pen of a ready writer, copieth out our requests.

Now if the prayer of one righteous man prevaileth so much with the Omnipotent, how much more the united prayers of the whole Church? If one trumpet sound so loud in the eares of the Almighty, how much more a consort of all the silver trumpets of Sion sounded together? If one sigh is of force to drive our barke to the wished haven, how much more a gale of sighes breathed from a million of Gods afflicted servants? What judgement cannot so many hands lifted up beare off from us? what bles­sing are they not able to pull down from heaven? Wherefore, as the whole Synagogue with one mouth prayed God for their King, so according to Saint Pauls precept, the whole Christian Church offered up their united devotions for the Roman Emperour. The matter and forme of their pray­er is set downe by Tertul. in apol. Manibus ex­pansis, quia in­nocuis, capite nudo, quia non erubescimus, precantes sem­per sumus pro omnibus Impe­ratoribus, vitam illis prolixam, imperium secu­rum, domum tutam, exerci­tus fortes, Sena­tum fidelem, populum pro­bum, orbem quietum. Tertullian; With hands spread abroad, because innocent; and bare head, because not blushing, we are alwayes praying for all Empe­rours, that God would grant unto them a long life, a happie reigne, a safe house, victorious armies, a faithfull councell, a loyall people, and a peace­able world. And if according to Saint Cypr. de laps. Cyprians passionate admonition we would joyne publickly our prayers to their prayers, and our teares to their teares, and our sighes to their sighes, who groane under the heavie yoake of heathenish or antichristian tyranny; who knoweth whether God would not change the face of Christendome, and not onely wipe bloud from the bodie, but also all teares from the eyes of his most disconsolate Spouse?

Thus much of the notes in space; the notes in rule are specially

In thy strength.1. That the onely securitie of Princes and States is in the strength of the Almighty.

The King shall rejoyce in thy salvation.2. That God holdeth a speciall hand over Soveraigne Princes.

[Page 73]3. That Princes mightily defended and safely preserved by the arme of God must thankfully acknowledge this singular favour, and deliver their deliverances to after ages, that the children yet unborne may praise the Lord as we doe this day.

1. That Princes and states have no safe repose but under the shadow of the Almighty, I need not alledge any one Psalme for proofe: it is the burthen al­most of every song. Not a string in Davids harp but soundeth out this tune, briefly, Psal. 2.12. happy are they that put their trust in him. Psal. 4.8. Thou Lord onely makest me to dwell in safety. Psal. 20.7. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but wee will remember the Name of the Lord our God. Psal. 21.7. The King trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved. Psal. 44.6.8. I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. In God wee boast all the day long: and praise thy Name for ever. Selah. Upon this note how excel­lent doth he divide? Psal. 18.2. The Lord is my rocke, and my fortresse, and my deli­verer: my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler, the horne of my salvation, and my high tower. Xen. Cyr. p. ed. [...], &c. It is not the golden Scepter wee see Princes leane upon that supporteth them, it is the loyalty of their loving subjects which beareth them up: withdraw this golden Scepter from them they cannot stand. Plin. in panegyr. Satellitium principis ipsius innocentia op­timum muni­mentum muni­mento non e­gere. The best guard of a Prince, saith Plinie, is his owne innocencie, the best defence and munition to need none, for armes are provoked by armes; nei­ther can a Prince be guarded from his owne guard but by his buckler of faith, and the right hand of the Almighty: Dextra mihi deus est, My right hand is my god saith he in the Poet falsely and blasphemously: but David truely and most religiously, The Lord is the strength of my right hand. Psal. 127.1. Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vaine that build it: except the Lord keepe the City, the watchman waketh but in vaine. Except the Lord protect the royall person of a Prince, the States-man counselleth, the Cap­taine fighteth, the Guard waiteth but in vaine: no magazine of treasure, no arsenall of armour, no fleet by Sea, no forces by land, no alliance with neighbour Princes, no allegeance of subjects can secure their persons for a moment.

Those in the bath who forsake their guides and will venter to goe of themselves are often drowned: and travellers who refuse or distrust their convoy when they passe through theevish places, dismissing them or stealing away from them, for the most part by escaping seeming danger, fall into certaine danger: so it fareth with them who rely not upon the protection of the Almighty, but seeke other helpe, aid and support, from the arme of flesh, or the braine of worldly Politicians. Jer. 17.5. Cursed is hee who maketh flesh his arme, and trusteth not in the Lord his God. To the truth of which verdict the greatest Potentates in the world have subscribed with their owne bloud. Nebuchadnezzar trusted in his Citie Babel, and it be­came his Babel, that is, his confusion. Xerxes trusted in his multitude of men, his multitude encumbred him. Darius in his wealth, his wealth sold him. Eumenes in the valour of his regiment called the Silver-shields, his Silver-shields bound him and delivered him to Antigonus. Roboam in his young Counsellers, his young Counsellers lost him the ten Tribes. Caesar in his old Senatours, the Senatours conspired against him. Domitian in his guard, his guard betrayed him. Adrian in his Physicians, his Physicians [Page 74] cast him away: Multitudo medicorum perdidit Adrianum Imperat orem. These all leaned upon Egyptian reeds, which not onely brake under them, and so deceived their trust; but also ran in to their hands and sides, and wounded them. By whom let us all learne to distrust all meanes of trust and confidence, save in the continuance of Gods favour, and the support of his power and Grace. St. Prosp. sent. ex­cerpt ex Aug. Qui in se stat non stat, qui se sibi sufficere confidit, ab eo qui verè sufficit defici [...]. Prosper out of St. Austine happily concludeth this point; Whosoever standeth upon himselfe standeth not; hee who is confi­dent in his owne support, by this his arrogancie loseth the support of true confi­dence; opinion of selfe-sufficiencie inferreth a deficiencie from him in 2 Cor. 3.5. Not that we are sufficient of our selves to thinke a­ny thing of our selves but our sufficiencie is of God. whom is all our sufficiencie.

I have shewed you the pictures of those who have suffered shipwracke by making worldly policie their Pilot, and committing their bodie and goods to those brittle barkes which I before mentioned: behold now the cheerefull faces of those who in a deluge of troubles have yet arrived to the faire havens, being steered by the compasse of Gods Word, and carried safe in the arke of divine protection. How many mutinies against Moses? how many stratagems against Joshuah? how many attempts against Da­vid? what preparations against Hezekiah? what combinations against Jehosaphat? what armies against Constantine? what fulminations from Rome, what Armadoes from Spaine, what poysons, what dags and daggers from Traitours at home against Queene Elizabeth? Yet all these were compassed as it were with a wall of brasse, and castle of Diamond, the Divine protection. Abijah and his people joyning battaile with Jero­boam smote him and all Israel, and slew five hundred thousand, and tooke Bethel with the Townes thereof, and Jeshanah with the Townes thereof, and Ephraim with the Townes thereof; and the children of Israel, though farre more in number, were at that time brought under, and the children of Judah prevailed. Why? Because they were better soul­diers? or better armed? or led by a more expert Generall? or because they had advantage of the place? Nay, rather they were every way disadvanta­ged. For 2 Chron. 13.13. Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them: so they were before Judah and the ambushment was behind them. To put you out of doubt, the holy Ghost yeeldeth a reason of Judahs prevailing, 2 Chron. 13.18. be­cause they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers. St. Austin parallels this wonderfull victorie with the like that fell out about his time. When Aug. de Ci [...]. Dei l. 5. c. 23. U­no die Rhadage­sus tanta celeri­tate victus est, ut ne uno qui­dem non dicam extincto, sed ne vulnerato qui­dem Romano, multo amplius quam centum millium pro­sternetur ex­ercitus. Rha­dagesus King of the Gothes with a puissant army environed Rome, and by reason of the small preparations in the City no hope could be expected from man, how did God performe the trust by his Saints reposed in him, and fought for them in this their greatest extremitie, and so discomfited the enemies, that in one day an army of a hundred thousand was utterly defea­ted, not a man of the Roman side being slaine, nor so much as wounded? God loveth those best who trust him most, and he saveth them above meanes who hope in him above hope: as did Abraham the father of the faithfull. Beleeve him who spake it out of his owne experience: Psal. 125.1. They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. Ps. 91.1.4.5.6.7.10. ver. 4. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. [Page 75] Thou shalt not be affraid for the terrour by night: 5.6. nor for the arrow that fly­eth by day: nor for the pestilence that walketh in darknesse: nor for the de­struction that wasteth at noone-day. A thousand shall fall by thy side, 7.10. and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. There shall no e­vill befall thee, nor any plague come nigh thy dwelling. Psal. 3.8. Salvation belon­geth to the Lord. Ps. 144.10. It is hee that giveth salvation unto Kings who deli­vereth David his servant from the hurtfull sword. Why is the accent up­on Kings? as likewise in the words of my text, The King shall rejoyce in thy strength, exceeding glad shall Hee bee of thy salvation. Doth not the wing of Gods provident care extend to all his Children? are they not all safe under his feathers? They are all; yet Kings are nearest to his breast, they receive more warmth from him, hee hath a speciall care of them, according to my second observa­tion:

Obser. 2 That God taketh Princes into his peculiar protection. He keepeth them as the Signet of his finger, because in them the Image of his Soveraigne Majestie most brightly shineth. It concerneth him in honour to maine­taine them who are his Vicegerents upon earth. It concerneth him in love to defend the defenders of the faith, and cherish the nursing Fa­thers of his deerest Spouse. It concerneth him in wisedome to save them who are the breath of so many thousand nostrils; to keepe them whole who are the Sen. de clem l. 1. c 4. Ille est vin­culam pe [...] quod respublica co­haeret: nihil ipsa per se futura ni­sionus & praeda, si mens illa im­perii subtraha­tur. Regeincolu­mi mens omni­bus una, amisso rupêre fidem. bond which holdeth together the whole Common-wealth. In the danger of a King is the hazzard of a State, in the hazzard of a State the ruine of a Church, in the ruine of a Church Vid. Camerar. meditat. hist. c. 30. Magnos vi [...]os divinitus ab in­sidiis saepenu­merò conser­vari. Gods honour lyeth in the dust. The heathen Poet glanced at this truth, when every where he sti­leth Kings [...], as it were bred up and fostered in the bosome of Jove, or rather Jehovah. Keepe me, saith David, as the apple of thine eye: Who can endure the least pricke in the apple of the eye? no more will God abide his annointed to bee so much as 1 Chro. 16.22. touched: Nolite tangere unctos meos.

Is God so tender over Princes safety, and ought not they to bee as tender of his honour? Is hee so gracious to them, and ought not they bee as gratefull to him? The planets that receive more light from the Sunne, reflect more backe againe: the earth that receiveth raine from hea­ven, returneth it backe in vapour: Cessat decursus donorum si cesset recur­sus gratiarum: Obser. 3 God will shut the windowes of heaven, and restraine the golden showers of his blessings, if we send not up the sweet vapours and exhalations of our thankes-giving and praise. Hee forfeiteth his tenure who refuseth to doe his homage, bee it but the tendering of a red rose in acknowledgement of service. Such a kinde of homage Almighty God requireth of us for all we hold of him, the red roses of our lips, and the sweet savour of our devout meditations. Verily hee deserveth to lose his garden who will not afford his Landlord a flower. Si ingra­tum Sen. de bene fic. dixeris, omnia dixeris; if you call a man unthankefull you need say no more, for you cannot say worse: whosoever deserveth to be bran­ded with a marke of Ingratitude, hath his conscience feared with a hot Iron. For what is Cic. pro planc. Religion, but Gratitude to God; Pietie, but Gratitude to Parents; Loyaltie, but Gratitude to Princes; Charitie [Page 76] and friendship, but gratitude to our neighbour. Now of all men Princes are most obliged to be thankfull to God, because the beames of his fa­vour shine most bright in their Crownes and Scepters, he sets them in his owne seat of authoritie, investeth them with his owne robes of maje­stie, armeth them with his owne sword of justice, supporteth them with his own Scepter of power, adorneth them with his owne Diademe of roy­all dignitie, and graceth them with his own stile of Deity, Ego dixi dii estis, I have said yee are Gods, Joh. 10.34. & Psal. 82.6. and all of you are children of the most High. Above all therefore Princes ought to be most gratefull to God, because God hath placed them in that high condition, that all other owe dutie and thankfull service to them, and they to him alone. Thankes are not thankes-worthy if they flote onely in the mouth for a time, and spring not continually from the heart. That gratitude is gratefull and acceptable to God and men, whose root is in the heart, and blossomes in the tongue, and fruits in the hands; whose root is love, and blossomes praises, and fruits good works. The root in the heart cannot be seene of any but God, the blossomes in the lips are blowne away with a breath, but the fruits in the hands are more lasting. Wherefore Noah was not contented after he and his fami­ly were saved from the deluge to offer up a sweet smelling sacrifice of thankes-giving upon the Altar of his heart; but he leaveth behind him an Altar of stone, Jacob an house to God, Joshua a Trophey, Solomon a Tem­ple, the Centurion a Synagogue, Veronica a statue of brasse, Constantine many Churches and Hospitals, Paula a magnificent Monasterie at Bethle­hem, where our Lord was borne. The Heathen after they had escaped shipwracke hung up their Horat. od. Me tabula sacer vo­tiva paries indi­cabit humida suspendisse ve­stimenta Maris deo. votivas tabulas to Neptune. After victorie, be­sides supplications per omnia pulvinaria deorum, they put garlands upon the Images of their gods, and left the chiefe spoyles taken in warre in the Temple of Mars. The Jewes by the commandement of God reserved a golden pot of Manna in the Arke, in memorie of that Manna which fell in the Wildernesse. In a thankfull acknowledgement of the deliverance of their first borne in Egypt, they offered every first borne to God: and to eternize the memoriall of their passage out of Egypt, and freedome from servitude, they altered their Calendar, and made that moneth in which God by Moses delivered them out of the house of bondage the Exod. 12.2. beginning of their moneths.

Application.According to which religious presidents our gracious King, being as upon this day pulled out of the paw first of the Beare, and then of the Lion and his seven clawes, hath erected a lasting, living, and which is more, a speaking monument of his thankfulnesse to God, by appointing the feast we now keepe to preserve from oblivion his Majesties wonderfull preser­vation on this day from imminent destruction. When a motion was made in the Senate of dedicating a statue of massie gold to the honour of Tacit. annal. l. 2. Illae verae sunt Statuae quae in hominum men­tibus collocan­tur. Germa­nicus, Tiberius the Emperor opposed it, but upon a very plausible pretence, that Images of brasse and gold are subject to many casualties; they may be stolne away, they may be defaced and battered, foule indignities and scorns be put upon them. Those are the true Statues of vertue and Altars of fame which are set up in mens mindes: such Altars hath our Soveraigne ere­cted in the hearts of all his loving subjects, upon which wee offer this [Page 77] day throughout all his dominions the sacrifice of praise and thankes-giving for his Majesties marvellous deliverance, unparalleld in our age. Psal. 19.2. Dies ad diem eructat sei mo­nem, & nox ad noctem annun­ciat scientiam. One day shall tell another, and one night shall proclaime it to another what great things the Lord did upon this day for his Annointed, whereat we rejoyce. How was his Majestie wrapt over and over in the snares of death, when under colour of taking a Seminarie Priest (as he was made beleeve) newly arri­ved with a pot full of golden seeds to sow rebellion and treason in his King­dome, he was led by Alexander Ruthwen through so many chambers into that study which was a long time before appointed for the stage whereon to act that bloudie tragedie, whose catastrophe was as happy to the King and Kingdome, as dismall and fatall to the principall Actors. If ever study might be rightly termed according to the Latine name armarium, this was it; for it was not musaeum, but campus Martius, not a students treasurie, but a traitors armorie: here he findeth but two Authors, and they should both have beene Actors. In stead of the gold which was promised, here he seeth Iron and steele, and no strange coyne as he was borne in hand, but his own, I meane the crosse daggers, not stamped on metall, but readie to be driven into his sacred breast, and sheathed in his bowels. Well might the King here cry upon Philo de legat. Alex. Ubi cessat humanum auxi­lium ibi adest divinum. Philo as Croesus did upon Herod. clio. Solon when hee stood on the pile to be burned, and the fire was kindled at the bottome: O Philo, Philo, I finde thy words to be gospell, though thou wert an unbeleeving Jew. Mans ex­treamest necessitie is Gods chiefest opportunitie: then commeth helpe from heaven when the earth is at a stand, and man at his wits end. What hope was here from man? whence could the King expect any helpe being unarmed, unattended, unguarded, betweene two Traitors (as Christ be­tweene two theeves) with the point of a dagger at his heart, in that darke roome? Whence or how should there breake in any light of comfort from any the least chinke? Where should his hope cast anchor? Upon his servants and traine? But besides many doores, lockes, bolts and barres betweene them and his Majestie, most of them by the Earle Gowry upon a false alarum were sent out of doores to post after him in the field. Upon the Traitor himselfe? But his respectlesse and barbarous carriage, his desperate speeches, his execrable oathes, his bloudie lookes, his sparkling eyes, and glistering poynard drawne threatned nothing put present death. Upon himselfe? But alas he had no weapon defensive or offensive, and now the signe was at the heart, I meane the daggers point at his breast. O the dread of sacred Majestie! O the bulwarke of innocencie! O the power of eloquence! O the force of conscience! which though they could not blunt the point of the Traito [...] dagger, yet they dulled the edge of his malice for a time. When a scholar of St. Ruffin. in hist. John the Evangelist, mis-led by ill company, had turned to a Ruffian, and common hackster, and robber by the high way, and drew at his master; upon a word only, spoken to him by St. John, he re­lents, flings away his weapon, falls downe upon his knees, craveth pardon with teares, and promiseth for ever to abandon his wicked course of life. So powerfull is the ministerie of the word and mighty in operation, so reverend is the calling of the dispencers of Gods mysteries, that the naming only of a dead Preacher M ^r. Rollock preserved for a time the life of our So­veraigne. Ruthwen cannot endure to heare that the soule of Master Rollock [Page 78] should accuse him before Christs tribunall, for defiling the doctrine of the Gospel which he taught him, by the bloud spilt by him of the Lords An­nointed. His heart gives in, and he withdraweth himselfe for a while, and thereby giveth his Majestie time to breathe, and meanes to cause the study window to be opened, at which entred some light of comfort. Cic. pro Sylla. Sed urget ea­dem fortuna quae caepit; his Majestie must yet beare a worse brunt. For like as a Toad, being eased of his swelling for a time by eating of a planten leafe, if he meet with a Spider afterwards receiveth new poyson, and swel­leth more than before: even so Alexander meeting with the Earle Gowry his brother, (who was the Spider that spun all the web of this treason, which within a few houres was swept downe and himselfe in it with the besome of destruction) receiveth new poyson from him, and now is so bigge with ma­lice and treason that he is ready to breake. In therefore he comes againe to the study with two rapiers, and first binding himselfe by oath to bereave his Majestie of his life, he offereth to binde his royall hands. But the King put­ting on the resolution of the Oratour, Cic. in Catil. Si moriendum est in libertate mo­riamur. If we must die let us die as free men, looseneth his hands, and fastning upon the Traitors hand and sword grap­pleth with him, and by maine force drew him to the window (a little be­fore opened) whence by speech and signes he made knowne to his faith­full servants, at that instant passing under the window, how things stood with him, and how neer he was to utter ruine by trecherous villany. As soon as they heard his Majesties voyce they made all possible speed to rescue their master; yet before they could force the way through so many doores, lockes and barres betweene them and their immured Soveraigne, the light of all Israel had in all likelihood beene extinguished, but that one of the Kings servants by the secret conduct of divine providence ligh­ted upon the false doore opening to the staire case, which hee had no soo­ner got up, but he seeth the King on the ground, and the Traitor grap­pling with him, whom after hee had loosened from the King, with many wounds he tumbled downe the staires to receive his fatall blow from two other of his Majesties servants, who by this time had found the blind way leading to the turnepecke. And thus was the first act of this bloudie tragedy ended by the exit or going out of the first Actor Alexander Ruthwen, first out of that stage, and soone after of this world. The next act though more bloudie yet was by so much the lesse dreadfull, because the King by his servants, velut Eras. adag. homerica nube tectus, was saved out of murthers way. Now his Majesties honourable attendance must prove their valour, and testifie their loyaltie by as many mouthes as they received wounds in that hot skirmish, wherein their Antagonists had the advantage of all things save the cause: double they were in number, better appointed of weapons, and more acquainted with the place. For the Earle Gowry (like the man possessed in the Gospel, which Luke 11.26. walked through drie places, and took to him seven spirits worse than himselfe) armed himself, and took seven of his servants with him, more hardy and desperate than himself, and finding his brother newly slain, [...], was so enraged with furie and revenge, that he swea­reth at his entrie into the chamber that not a man of them should scape, cal­ling them by his Cic. parad. Ex­ [...]lem me suo nomine vocat. owne name Traitors. Here malice and love, fury and courage, trechery and loyalty, villanie and pietie trie it out at the point of [Page 79] the sword, and the combat is soon ended by the death of the Arch-Traitor. Upon whose fall the hearts of the rest faile, and they are now easily driven out of the room, and fresh aid commeth to the King by the rest of his train, who by this time had broken down all the doores, and made a passage into the study, where now they finde the King safe, and the Earle Gowry lying dead at his feet. Whereupon they all fell upon their knees, and praised the mighty God of Jacob, who giveth salvation to Kings, and then had delive­red his servant James from the perill of the sword: then were the words of my text verified, The King shall rejoyce in thy strength, O Lord, exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation. Then, if ever, our King joyed in thy strength, and in thy salvation excessively rejoyced. And not long after the words fol­lowing ( ver. 3.) were fulfilled in him; Thou preventedst him with blessings of goodnesse, and thou didst set a Crowne of pure gold upon his head, viz. the Crowne of England; which shortly after fell unto him, and hath ever since flourished upon his head: and so Lord may it still till he changeth this his corruptible crowne with an incorruptible, and his mortall state with an immortall, purchased for him and all of us by the death and passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be rendred all glorie, honour, praise and thanks-giving now and for ever. Amen.

PANDORA'S BOXE; OR, THE CAUSE OF ALL EVILS AND MISERY. A Sermon preached before the high Commis­sion in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth. THE SEVENTH SERMON.

I Should tremble to rehearse this text in your eares, if there were not comfort in it as well as terrour, joy as sorrow, helpe as calamity, salvation as destruction. But you may easily discerne in it a double glasse set be­fore us; in the one we may see our hurt, in the other our helpe; in the one Israel fallen, in the other raised up; in the one Adam and all his posteritie wounded by a grievous fall from the Tree of knowledge, and weltring in their owne blood, in the other healed and washed by Christs bloud; in the one de­struction from within, (Thou hast destroyed thy selfe O Israel) in the other salvation from above; (but in me is thy helpe.) In the Originall [...] it hath destroyed thee, or one hath destroyed thee, or thy destruction O Israel, or O Israel thy utter ruine and desolation. An abrupt and imperfect sen­tence, to be made up with something that goeth before, or to be gathered from that which followeth after, [...] but or for in me is thy helpe.

There were never pictures held in greater admiration than those of Plin. l. 35. c. 10. Ti­manthes, and they for this especially, that they exhibited more to the un­derstanding than to the eye, intimating more than was expressed, and pre­senting alwayes somewhat to the conceit which could not by co­lours be represented to the sight. And for the like reason, those straines of [Page 81] Rhetorike most take the wise, and affect the judicious eare, which expresse more by expressing lesse, the sentence being broken off in the midst, to shew the force of violent passion which bereaveth us on the sudden both of sense and speech. The Musicians also in their way tickle the eare by a like grace in musicke to that figure in speech by unexpected stops and rests, making a kinde of Aposiopesis and harmonicall Ellipsis. Surely as the bro­ken joynts and maimed limbes of men uncovered much move us to com­passion; so the imperfect and maimed members of sentences, uttered in an­ger or griefe, are aptest both to signifie and to move passion. Such is that broken speech of 2 King. 13.14. Joash the King concerning Elisha, over whose face hee wept and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And that of Psal. 6.3. David, My soule is sore troubled, but thou O Lord how long! And the like of our Luke 19.42. Saviour, If thou hast knowne, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace. And semblable there­unto is this in my text, Shikethka, Jisrael perdidit te, or perditio tua, it hath undone thee, or thy ruine O Israel. For those words (ex te) which we finde in many latine copies are added by the Translator to fill up the breach in the sentence: in the Hebrew there is a verball Ellipsis or defect, which ex­presseth a reall Ellipsis or utter failing of Israels strength, and a figurative Ellipsis and seeming deficiency in God himselfe, through a deepe taking to heart of Israels now most deplorate estate:

The Crowne of Israel is fallen from his head, and all his honour lyeth in the dust. Israel after many grievous strokes and wounds received, now bleeds at the heart, and is a breathing out his last gaspe; and the God of Israel by a Sympathy of griefe seemeth to lie speechlesse. For his words faulter: thy destruction Israel, or it hath destroyed thee, Israel is destroy­ed, who hath destroyed Israel? or why is Israel destroyed? why is the cause and author of Israels woe concealed, and the sentence left abrupt and imperfect? Tertul. adver. Hermog. c. 22. Adoro Scriptu­rae plenitudi­nem. Tertullian speaking of the perfection of Scripture saith, I a­dore the fulnesse of the Scriptures: in another sense, yet true, I may use the contrary attribute, and say, I adore the deficiencies and seeming vacuities in Scripture sentences, where the roome left for words is anticipated by passion, and filled up with sighs and grones. Will you have the cause why God expresseth not the cause of Israels plagues? Because he would not adde unto them. Had he filled up the bracke in the contexture of the sen­tence, it must have bin with these or the like words, by the consent of In­terpreters, It is thy stubborne heart, O Israel, and thy open rebellion against mee: it is thy stoning my Prophets, and killing my messengers sent early and late unto thee: it is thy spirituall fornication, and Idolatrous worship of Je­roboams golden calfes that hath heretofore brought all thy miserie upon thee, and now hath wrought thy finall overthrow. But alas this had beene to mingle judgement with wormewood, to kill them with a word whom he meant to smite with a sword. It is enough for a Judge to pronounce the dreadfull sentence of death, it is too much then to fall foule upon the prisoner with [Page 82] amplifications and bitter invectives. Howbeit, whether for these or better reasons best knowne to himselfe, God doth not here particularly set down the author or cause of Israels woe; yet in the other member of the sentence (but in mee is thy helpe) removing the cause from himselfe, and professing that there had beene helpe in him for them, but for some barre: he giveth them to understand in generall what it was hee forbare to speake, but they could not but conceive, and wee must gather out this Scripture for our in­struction, that the cause of Israels overthrow, and the ruine of all other Kingdomes is in their sinnes, and from themselves. As in musicke, though each string hath a different sound by it selfe, yet many of them strucke to­gether make but one chord: so the last translation which I follow, and all the former which I have read, though they much differ in words, yet they accord in the sense by mee now delivered. For whether wee reade as some doe, Rex tuus, thy King; or as others, Vitulus tuus, thy calfe; or as Calvin, Aliquid praeter me, something besides me hath destroyed thee; or as St. Jerome doth, Perditio tua ex te, thy destruction is from thy selfe; or as the Kings Translators render the Hebrew, thou hast destroyed thy selfe, the sentence is all one, thy mischiefe is from thy selfe, but all thy hope of help is from thy God. Julian gave for his armes in his Scutchion an Eagle strucke through the heart with a flight shaft feathered out of her owne wing, with this Motto, propriis configimur alis, our death flies to us with our owne feathers, and our wings pierce us to the heart. To apply this patterne to my text, and leave the print thereof upon it to imprint the doctrine thereof deeper in your memories. The Eagle strucke dead is the Church and Com­mon-wealth of Israel, the arrow is the swift judgement of God, the feathers shed out of her owne wings which carried the arrow so swift, and drave the head of it in so deepe are Israels sinnes. It is a lamentable thing to heare of the ruine and utter overthrow of any Kingdome; how much more of the downefall of Israel Gods chosen people, his chiefe treasure, his on­ly joy? But that Israel should be Israels overthrow, that Israel should be felo de se, and accessarie to his owne death and utter confusion; this must needs pricke the quickest veine in our hearts. And these are the three points which by the assistance of Gods spirit I am first to cleare to your under­standing, and after to presse upon your religious affections:

• 1. The accident to the subject: Destruction.
• 2. The subject of this accident: Israel.
• 3. The cause of this accident in this subject: Thou, or thy sinnes; thou by thy sinnes hast destroyed thy selfe O Israel.

First, of the privative accident, destruction. Destruction is opposed to construction, as corruption to generation: and as that is the death and disso­lution of all naturall bodies, so this of all artificiall. I except not such as are purposely made to preserve corpses from corruption and putrefaction, as coffins of lead, and sepulchres of Marble. For these also in time cor­rupt and moulter away: ‘—Sunt ipsis quo que fata sepulchris.’

Nay, we may make this strong line of the Poet a little stronger, ver. 14. and say truly, sunt ipsis quo que fatis fata; death it selfe hath his dying day: for my Prophet in this chapter threatneth O death I will be thy plagues O grave I will be thy destruction. death with death, and the grave with destruction. Howbeit destruction here, as it is applied to Israel, seemeth not so much to signifie destruction in the vulgar acception, that is, the pul­ling downe of the houses, or sacking of townes and villages, as the dissolution of the state, and downefall of the Kingdome of Israel: and therefore the point herein to be seriously thought upon is the Soph Pasuck full point, and fatall period of all earthly States, Societies, Common-wealths and King­domes. All naturall things carry in their stile Corruptible, all humane in their stile mortall, all earthly in their stile Temporall: to distinguish the first sort from things supernaturall, which are incorruptible; the second sort from things divine, which are immortall; the third sort from heaven­ly, which are eternall. The things which are seene, saith the 2. Cor. 4.18. Apostle, are temporall, but the things which are not seene, are eternall. It is the royall prerogative of him who Apoc. 19.16. & 17.14. hath written upon his thigh, and on his vesture, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that his Kingdome is bounded with no limits, nor confined to time: the eternity whereof is proclaimed in holy Scriptures by five noble Heralds, two Kings, two Prophets, and an Arch­angell. The two Kings are Psal. 45 6. Thy throne O God is for ever. David and Dan. 4.32. Whose dominion is an everlasting do­minion. Nebuchadnezzar. The two Prophets are Cap. 17.14 His kingdome is that which shall not be destroyed. Daniel and Micah 4.7. The Lord shall reigne from hence­forth even for ever. Micah. The Archangell is Luke 1.31, 32, 33. Horat. car. l. 1. od 3. Semotique prius tarda ne­cessitas leti cor­ripuit gradum. Gabriel, whose trumpet soundeth most shrill, and giveth a most certaine sound: Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy wombe, and bring forth a sonne, and shalt call his name Jesus, ver. 31. He shall be great, and shall be called the sonne of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, ver. 32. And he shall reigne over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his King­dome there shalbe no end, ver. 33. Of all other there shalbe. For all politike bodies are in some sort subject to the condition of natural bodies. As these, so they have their beginning or birth, growth, perfection, state, decay and dissolution. And as the statures of men in this decrepit and feeble age of the world are much diminished, and their life shortened; so even States and Empires fall short of their former greatnesse, and are like sooner to arrive to their period, naturall end, or to speake more properly, civill death and dissolution, called in my text destruction. Some who have taken upon them to calculate as it were the nativitie of the world, and erect a scheme of all the living, have set the utmost day of the duration of the one, and life of all the other to fall within foure hundred yeares, according to an ancient tra­dition of the Jewes fathered upon the house of Melancthon in Chron. l. 1. p. 10. Sex millia an­norum mundus; duo millia ina­ne, duo millia lex, duo millia dies Messiae: & propter pec­cata nostra quae multa & magna sunt deerunt anni qui dec­runt. Elias: The world shall last sixe thousand yeeres; two thousand thereof there shall be a vacuitie or empti­nesse; two thousand the Law shall continue; and the dayes of the Messiah shall make out two thousand more; of which if any be lacking, by reason of our many and grievous sinnes they shall be lacking. The Cabalists favour this conceit, and labour to wierdraw it out of the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis, where because they finde sixe Alephs or A's which in numerall characters signifie so many thousand yeares, conclude the duration of the world from the first creation to the end shall make up just that number of yeeres. And many also of our Christian Chronologists, streining the let­ter of 2 Pet. 3.8. One day with the Lord is as a thou­sand yeeres, and a thousand yeeres as one day. St. Peter too farre, allot precisely sixe thousand yeares for the conti­nuance [Page 84] of the world; at the seventh thousand they beleeve we shall all be­gin to keepe our everlasting Sabbath in heaven. For the period of particu­lar Kingdomes Gasper P [...]ucer. praesat. in Chron. Carion. Hanc periodum lege quadam sancitam divi­nit [...]s magnis Impe [...]iis fata­lem esse, & uni­versales mutati­ones afferre ostendunt om­nium tempo­rum historiae. Peucerus observeth that it seldome or never ex­ceedeth 500. years; which he proveth by these instances following. From the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt to the building of the first Temple we finde much about five hundred yeeres run out: the first, as also the second Temple stood thereabouts: the Assyrians ruled in Asia so long: Athens was ruled by Kings, Rome by Consuls just so many yeers: From Augustus to Valentinian the last, five hundred yeeres are reckoned, all which time the seat of the fourth Monarchy of the world was fixed at Rome. The Church of Rome in a sort continued in her puritie for five hun­dred yeeres: After the Papacie and superstition grew to the height in the westerne parts before the thousanth yeere, and five hundred yeeres after the happy reformation begun by Martin Luther. Yet neither that traditi­on of the house of Elias, nor the observation of Peucerus are of infallible certaintie. Acts 1.7. which the Father hath [...] in his owne power. It belongeth not to us to know times and seasons: and though often God hath translated Kingdomes within the limits of five hundred yeeres, yet not alwayes: some have lasted longer, as the Monarchy of the Assyrians; some farre shorter, as the monarchy of the Persians; and after them of the Grecians. The Christian Kings of Jerusalem finished their course within a hundred yeeres. Men may probably ghesse at the circum­volution of great Empires and Kingdomes: but neither can the Astrolo­gers certainely foresee by the course of the starres, nor Bod. de rep. l. 4. c. 2. ex Plat. pol. 8. Platonicks define by the accomplishment of the nuptiall number, nor Politicians foretell by their intelligence with forreine States, nor Magicians determine by conference with their familiar spirits: but the Prophets of God onely forewarne by inspiration from him who hath decreed before all time the dayes of man, and continuance of families, and periods of Kingdomes, and ages of the world, and lasting of time it selfe. That which Belshazzar saw, Dan. 5.25.26. a hand writing upon the wall, all Princes and States may see and read in the records of heaven kept in holy Scripture: Mene, Mene, thou art num­bred, thou art numbred, thy yeares are summed, thy dayes are appoin­ted, thine houre is set. Be thou as great and glorious as Nebuchadnezzars Image with a head of gold, armes of silver, bellie and thighes of brasse, and legs of Iron; yet thou standest upon feet of clay. And what is now become of the head of gold which represented the Assyrian? and armes of silver which resembled the Persian? and the thighes of brasse which set forth the Grecian? and the legs of iron which signified the Roman Monar­chy? Are they not all broken together, and become like chaffe of a summers flower dispersed with the winde? How proudly doth Sennacherib insult over those Nations whom his Ancestors had destroyed? Esay 37.13. Where is the King of Hamath, and the King of Arphad, and the King of the Citie Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivah? Little did he then thinke of a bird from the East, Cyrus by name, that after a short time should chirpe the like note at the Court of the great King of Ashur: Where is the King of Shinar, and the King of Ba­bylon, and the King of Damascus, and the King of Nineveh, and the great Mo­narch of Assyria? Whereas he should with Nebuchadnezzar have Dan. 4.34.35. honou­red for these victories him that liveth for ever, whose Kingdome is from ge­neration [Page 85] to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doth according to his will in the armie of heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What dost thou?

If the state of Kingdomes and Monarchies is so fickle, what follie, or ra­ther madnesse is it for any private man to dreame of perpetuities and cer­tainties, and indefeisable estates? As if a man might be safe in a small cab­bine under hatches, when the whole Ship is drowned under the water: or a Spider secure in his web, when the whole window is pulled downe: or a young bird out of danger in the nest, when the whole arme of the tree is torne off. All private mens estates are ventered in the bottome of the Com­mon-wealth, and all Common-wealthes in the great vessell of the earth, which was once swallowed up with a deluge of Water, and shall be ere it be long with a deluge of fire. A house infected with some kinde of Lepro­sie by the Law was to be pulled downe and burnt to ashes: and when ini­quitie shall so abound on the earth that the whole world shall be infected with the Leprosie of monstrous and enormous sins, this great house which hath beene long tottered, shall be burned, and fall downe about our eares. And verily if all other signes be accomplished, as many of the learned in their commentaries upon the Apocalyps contend, I should thinke the world cannot long stand: for ‘ Juvenal. sat. 1. Quando ub [...] ­rior vitiorum co­pia? quando Major avaritia patuit sinus, &c Horat. l. 1. car. od. 35. Eheu cicatricū & sceleris pudet, fratrumque quid nos dura refugimus caetas? quid intactum nefasti liqui­mus?Omne in praecipiti vitium stetit.’ Every sinne is growne to the height. Atheisme to the height, even in men of high calling: prophanenesse to the height, even on the Lords Sabbaths, and in his holy Temple: Impuritie and immodestie at the height, even da­ring the consistory: Iniquitie at the height, possessing the place and seat of justice: Drunkennesse at the height, reeling at noone-day: Idolatrie, He­resie, and Superstition at the height, advancing their followers to the high­est preferments in the Church, and keeping under pure Religion, and the sin­cere Professours thereof.

It will be said, though plagues fall upon all Egypt, yet Goshen shall be free, though the whole world be destroyed, all Israel shall be saved. Is­rael is Gods first-borne, who shall dis-inherit him? Israel is the Vine which the right hand of God hath planted, who shall root it up? Israel is the Signet on his finger, who shall plucke it off? Nay, Israel is the apple of his eye, who shall pull it out? Let heaven and earth passe away, yet Gods covenant with Israel shall stand fast; his seed shall endure for ever, and his throne shall bee as the Sunne before God. If these promises stand good unto Israel, this Prophecie of Israels downefall must needs fall to the ground. For how can the Kingdome of Jacob, and the captivitie of Jacob, Israels gathering out of all Nations, and Israels scattering abroad into all Nations, Israels perpetuall standing, and Israels falling and utter subversi­on stand together?

To compose this seeming difference betweene Gods promises to Israel, and his threats against Israel, we must distinguish of divers kindes of promi­ses made to Israel, and of divers Israels to which the promises may apper­taine. Israel sometime signifieth

• 1. Properly
  • 1. Either the whole posteritie of Jacob:
  • 2. Or the ten tribes which were rent from Roboam.
• 2. Figuratively
  • The spiritual kingdome of Christ over the Elect.

Againe, there is a threefold Israel:

• 1. According to the flesh onely, of which the
  Rom. 9.6. Rom. 11.25.
  Apostle spea­keth expressely; They are not all Israel which are of Israel. And obstinacie is come to Israel.
  1 Cor. 10.18.
  Behold Israel after the flesh.
• 2. Israel according to the Spirit onely.
  Heb. 8.10.
  This is the cove­nant that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes, I will put my Law into their mindes, and write them in their hearts, &c. and so all
  Rom. 11.26.
  Israel shalbe saved, for this is my covenant with them when I take away their sinnes.
• 3. Israel according to the flesh and spirit; which may rightly be called the Israel of Israel, as Demosthenes termeth Athens [...], the Greece of Greece: to Israel in this third sense Christ had a speciall commission: I am not sent, saith he, but to the lost
  Math. 10.6. G [...] to the lost sheepe of the house of Israel.
  sheepe of the house of Israel. Saint Paul pointeth to this Israel, when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come in, all
  Rom. 10.26.
  Is­rael shall be saved. And Saint John,
  Apoc. 7 4.
  There were sealed an hundreth and fourty and foure thousand of all the Tribes of the children of Israel.

Retaine these distinctions of Israel, and put a difference betweene the promises; whereof

Some are

• 1. Absolute,
• 2. Conditionall.

Some are

• 1. Temporall,
• 2. Spirituall:

and you shall easily reconcile those texts of Scriptures which seeme to overthrow this prophecie concerning the utter overthrow of the Kingdome of Isra­el, (by which we are here to understand the ten Tribes) which fell out not long after this Prophecie, in the daies of Hosea their last King.

As for Judah, the Gen. 49.10. Scepter, according to Jacobs prophecy, departed not from it untill Shilo came: but after he came and was rejected of that Nati­on, and the sacred twig of Jesse was nailed to an accursed tree, God cut it off root and branch by the Romans. Within lesse than halfe an age after our Lords death, Jerusalem bewailed it with bloudie teares, and the Temple rued it: in the ruines, dust, and ashes whereof we may reade this motto: There is no place priviledged from Gods judgement: no Sanctuarie for presumptuous sinners: no protection from arrests taken out of the Court of Heaven. The Palladium saved not Troy from the Greekes, [Page 87] nor the Arke the Israelites from the Philistims, nor the Temple the Jewes from the Romanes, nor the tombes of Martyrs Rome from the Gothes, nor the Crucifix the Christians in Palestine from Saladine the Sultan of Egypt. God most hateth sinne in them whom he loveth most, and most severely punisheth it in them; as Moses, Job, David, and Saint Paul felt by their owne smart. When the Jewes in Jeremie cryed out, Jer. 7.4. The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, presuming that God would save them for the Temples sake; the Prophet might have answe­red, Which you have defiled, which you have polluted, which you have propha­ned. The cry of our sinnes will soone move the justice of heaven (if we stop it not) to turne the mouth of this roaring Cannon towards us. We are, we trust in the God of Israel, the Israel of God: and if we take not their de­struction to heart, it will prove ours. For we cannot but thus reason with our selves: If God spared not the naturall branches for their unfruitfulnesse, will he spare the engraffed? If judgement beginneth at the house of God, where is it like to end? If God hath sent a bill of divorce to the beloved Citie, and hath quite forsaken his first love, may his latter Spouse the Church of the Gentiles presume to escape better, if she prove alike disloyall? If it hath beene thus done, as before is specified, to the greene tree, what shall bee done to the drie? If Jerusalem be made an example, and the Temple a lamentable spectacle of divine justice, can Babylon and the house of Rim­mon stand long? If the seven golden Candlestickes placed by Christs owne hand in Asia, and furnished with burning and shining lampes, are removed, and their lights put out, have not we cause to feare that our Candlestickes shall bee removed if we love darkenesse more than light? Did God not spare his owne House, but suffered it to bee burnt to Ashes for the sinnes committed in it? will hee, thinke yee, spare our houses if such wickednesse bee found in them for which hee destroyed the Holy of Holies?

But I list not to dwell any longer upon the ruines of Israel: I hasten to the cause of Israels woe. Which as it concerned the Israelites more nearely, so it will come also more home to us; Thou hast destroyed thy selfe: Tu, Te. Praise God O Israel for thy former prosperitie, but now thanke thy selfe for thy imminent desolation. Clem. Alexand. strom. l. 1. [...]. Clemens Alexandrinus observeth acutely that although Theologie, flowing from the fountaine of sacred Scripture, runne all in one channell; yet that many other rivers arising from divers heads and sources fall into it: as for example, in the pro­per doctrine of this text, that destruction is from our selves, but salvation from God, Morall Philosophie entervaineth with Divinity in that her as­sertion; Plat. apol. Socr. Anytus & Mile­tus occidere me possun [...], laedere non possunt. Nemo laeditur nisi a seipso, no man is hurt but by himselfe. Politie in that observation, Lucan de bello Pharsal. l. 1. In se magna ruunt, Great States as buildings are oppressed with their owne weight, and fall upon themselves. Art milita­rie in that stratagem intus Equus Trojanus, that Trojane horse is within the walls which ruines the Citie. The sword of the enemie draweth out but a little corrupt bloud, that may bee well spared: it is sedition and intestine warre that giveth the State her deathes wound.

Are not all mixt bodies corrupted by the disagreement of elements, and the elements themselves by the strife of contrarie qualities within them?

Are not all metals defaced with their owne rust? Trees and fruits eaten with little wormes? Garments with mothes breeding in them? What need I bring in out of Pliny the Hedge-hog for instance, disarmed by the Plin. nat. hist. l. 8 c. 37. Urinam ex se reddunt tabificam te [...] ­gorispinisque noxiam. water that comes from her, and softens her prickes and rots them? The l. 11. c. 19. No­cent & sua mel­laipsis alis ut vis­co implicitis & fistula quae oris loco est obru­ [...]ata. Bees often choaked with their owne hony? The l. 10. c. 3 Oppe­tunt fame in tantum superio­re accrescente rostro ut adun­citas aperiri non qutat. Eagle starved by his ra­venous feeding, which makes his bill grow so big that he cannot open it wide enough to receive in food? The historie of all times brings in evi­dence of fact to confirme the truth of this observation in humane affaires. Sodome might have stood for all the five Kings that bid her battaile, if the unnaturall fire of lust had not drawne downe upon her unnaturall fire, I meane the fire of hell, as Salvi [...]n. de gubern. Dei. l. 1. Deus voluit declarar [...] udi­cium q [...]ando super impium populum Ge­hennam misit de coelo. Salvian speaketh, from heaven. Troy might have stood a thousand yeeres for all the Grecian Fleet of a thousand ships, if An­tenor had not by trechery opened the Scean gate, and the Inhabitants upon the unexpected remove of the Fleet throwne their houses out at the windowes; whereof the Greekes having intelligence ‘ Virg. Aen 2.Invadunt Urbem somno vinoque sepultam:’ surprise the Citie, partly in a dead sleepe, partly dead drunke. It was not Dan's vigilancie, but Judg. 18.27. And they came unto Laish, unto a people that were quiet and secure and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the City with fire. Laish her securitie that exposed her to spoile. It was not Xen Cyr. poed. Cyrus his valour and prowesse, but Babylons effeminatenesse and luxu­rie that subdued it: the Citizens kept a feast, and their King Belshazzar was quaffing in the bowles of the Sanctuary, when the Persians stole in upon them and slew them like beasts. They were not Fabius his souldiers, but Capua's pleasures which conquered Capua Hanni­bali Cannae. Hannibal. It was not Titus his siege without, but the Zelots sedition within the walls that dispeopled Jerusalem, strowing her streets with carkasses, and dying her common Seurs with bloud. It was not the Turkes puissance, but the covetousnesse of the Citi­zens of Constantinople which made it a prey to the enemie, as the Turk him­selfe confessed, when in the sacking of the City, and rifling the houses, he found such a masse of treasure as might have easily secured the place if the owners would have contributed but a small part of it to the maintenance of the Greeke Emperours warre against the Saracens. And to come neerer my text, it was not the Assyrians horse and chariots, but Jeroboams gol­den calves, together with their sorcerie, witchcraft, and other sinnes discovered unto them by the Prophets Amos and Hosea, but unre­pented of, which destroyed Israel. It is true which Arnobius affirmeth, [Page 89] that we Arnob. adver. gent. l. 2. Procul absit tam scele­rata persuasio, ut rerum omni­um salus Deus ulli rei fuerit miseriarum aut discriminum causa. may by no meanes staine the decrees of God with any aspersion of bloudy cruelty, or impute to him the miseries which befall us: and yet God by his Prophet Amos 3.6. Amos demandeth, Shall there bee any evill in a City, and the Lord hath not done it? Salv. de pro­videntia l. 8. A Deo quippe punimur, sed ipsi facimus ut puniamur, cum autem punire nos ipsi faci­mus, cui dubitum est, quin ipsi nos nostris cri­minibus puni­amus, vim Deo faciamus ini­quitatibus no­stris, & ipsi in nos iram Dei armamus. Salvianus excellently accordeth the seeming difference betweene these assertions; God is the cause, and wee are the cause of our woe; God punisheth us, and wee punish our selves: God indeed punisheth us, but wee cause, and after a sort force him to doe it: God inflicteth stripes, but wee deserve them: God striketh, but wee provoke: God powreth out the vials of his wrath, but wee fill them up to the brimme by our over-flowing iniquities. God maketh us good if wee are so: but in a true sense wee make him just, (and which may seeme a great Para­doxe) even by our injustice. For if wee were not unjust in transgressing, God could not bee just in punishing; neither would hee desire any way to exalt his glory by the ruine of his creature. For he delighteth in mercy, ( Micah 7.18.) and goodnesse is his nature. Hee therefore never sendeth e­vill upon us before we have it in us, hee never fils us a cup of Psal. 75.8. In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red: it is full of mixture, and he powreth out of the same. red wine be­fore the measure of our crimson sinne is full; neither powreth hee out the dregges of his wrath upon any, but such as Moab-like are settled upon their lees, Zeph. 1.12.

To strike saile then, and land my discourse: If our Israel, if the Scep­ter of our Moses, and the Rod of our Aarons flourish not as in former times, if the people bee multiplied, and yet our joy not increased, if our corne, and wine, and oyle abound, and yet wee are not enriched, if the publike weale and every mans private, by some secret veine inwardly blee­ding, hath beene in a kinde of consumption, if our State hath received any wound, or our Church any blow, wee know where to lay the blame: wee must say with mournefull Jerusalem, Lam. 1.8. The Lord is righteous, but wee have rebelled against him: God hath beene good to us, but wee have rewarded evill unto our selves: God hath not forgotten to bee gracious, but wee to bee thankefull: God would bee better to us if wee were better:

Doth any desire to know how it commeth to passe that our gold is not so pure? our silver so bright? our brasse and iron so strong as here­tofore? that is, the honour of our Nobility, the riches of our Gen­try, the vertue and strength of our Commonalty is much empaired. If I and all Preachers should bee silent, our Sen. de ira l. 2. Nec furtiva jam scelera sunt, praeter o­culos eunt, & in publicum missa nequitia est. loud sinnes would proclaime it, blasphemy would speake it, prophanenesse sweare it, pride and vanity paint and print it, usury and bribery tell it, luxury vent it, gluttony and drunken­nesse belch it out. St. Peters argument were now of no force, these men are not drunke, seeing that it is but the third houre of the day: for all houres of day, yea and night too, are alike to many of our drunkards. Tacit. annal. l. 3. Praestat o­mittere prae va­lida & adulta vi­tia, quam id as­sequi ut palam fiat quibus viti­is impares si­mus. Tibe­rius his advice in Tacitus may passe in point of policy for good, viz. to dissemble and conceale overgrowne and head-strong evils, rather than by tax­ing them to make it knowne what vices have so got the masterie of us, that wee [Page 90] cannot stand against them: but religion allowes of no such politicke si­lence. God layeth this burthen upon his Prophets, to burthen all sorts of men with all sorts of sin, and to tell the greatest Potentates upon the earth, that Potentespotenter, that the mighty shall bee mightily tormented; that the Apoc. 19.18. fowles that flie in the midst of heaven shall eat the flesh of Kings, and the flesh of Captaines, and the flesh of mighty men. The lowder our sinnes cry, the higher we must lift up our voice like a trumpet to cry them downe, even by thundering Gods judgements against them.

Pope Plat. in vita Silv. Silvester when he was bid beware of Jerusalem, for that when­soever hee should come thither, hee should certainly dye, he flattered him­selfe that hee should put off his death long enough, because hee was sure that he never meant to travell into Palestine, little thinking that there was a Church at Rome of that name, into which hee had no sooner set his foot, but hee met with his evill Genius, as Brutus did at Philippi, and suddenly ended his wretched dayes. Suffer I beseech you the word of admoniti­on and exhortation: It is not Rome in Italy which we need so much to feare, though it bee the Seminary of Heretickes and Traytors; but Rome in Eng­land, Rome at home; I meane the Popish faction among us, which casteth continually fire-balls of dissention in the State, and of Schisme in the Church, to set all in a combustion. Cant. 2.15. O take away the foxes, the little foxes that spoile the grapes of that far spreading vine which God hath planted among us by his word, and watered by the bloud of so many noble Martyrs.

But I feare to lance any publicke sores any deeper: let mee give but a pricke at our private wheales, and then I will soone rid you and my selfe of paine. Beloved, wee are all querulous, yet none almost either knoweth or looketh after the cause of their woe. One complaineth that hee goeth backward in the world, and sinketh in his estate, and hee lay­eth all the blame either upon bad servants, or theevish neighbours, or racking Land-lords, or hard times, or some losses by sea or land; but never looketh into his owne heart, where the true cause lyes, be it co­vetousnesse, or distrust of Gods providence, or a quarrelling dispositi­on, or pride, or idlenesse, or luxurie, or sacriledge. Another is still whi­ning that hee cannot get or keepe his health, and he imputeth this either to his crazie constitution by nature, or ill ayre, or over much labour and stu­dy; whereas indeed the cause is his ill diet, his sitting up all night at Re­vels, his powring in strong wines, and spending the greatest part of the day in Tavernes, his intemperancy or incontinency. All other sinnes are without the body, but hee that 1 Cor. 6.18. committeth fornication sinneth a­gainst his owne body. First, against the honour of his body; for thereby he maketh the members of Christ the members of an harlot: next, the strength, health, and life of the body, which nothing more enfee­bleth, empaireth, and endangereth, than greedily drinking stolne waters, and coveting after strange flesh. A third is troubled in minde, and hee feeleth no comfort in his conscience, the good spirit hath left him, and the evill spirit haunteth him, and scorcheth his soule with the flashes of Hell fire; and hee ascribeth this to some melancholy bloud, or worldly dis­content, or the indiscretion of some Boanerges, sonnes of thunder, who preach nothing but damnation to their hearers; whereas the true cause [Page 91] is in himselfe; hee grieveth the spirit of grace, hee turneth it into wan­tonnesse, and quencheth the light of it in himselfe; and therefore God withdraweth this holy Comforter from him for a time. When Just. hist. l. 1. Zopyrus qui si­bi labia & na­res praecidi cu­rasset, queritur crudelitatem Regis. Zopyrus had cut his owne lips and nose, he gave it out that the Babylonians had so barbarously used him: such is the condition of most men; they disfigure their soules, dismember their bodies by monstrous sinnes, and yet lay the whole blame upon others. Mat. 10.36. The enemies of a man, saith our Saviour, are those of his owne house. So it is, so it is, saith S. Bern med. c. 13. Accusat me conscientia, te­stis est memo­ria, ratio judex, voluptas car­cer, timor tor­tor, oblecta­mentum tor­mentum, inde enim punimur unde oblecta­mur. Bernard, in mine owne house, in my proper family; nay, within my selfe I have my accuser, my judge, my witnesse, my tormentor. My conscience is the accuser, my memory the wit­nesse, my reason the judge, my feare the torturer, my sinfull delights my torments. Camerar. med. hist. cent. 1. c. 20. Plancus Plautius hiding himselfe in the time of the proscription, was found out onely by the smell of his sweet oyles wherewith hee used luxuriously to anoint himselfe, Eras. adag. Sorex ut dicitur suo indicio. Sylla hea­ring some displeasing newes, was so enflamed with anger, that streining himselfe to utter his passion, he brake a veine, and spitting bloud died. Re­member the words of dying Caesar, when hee felt their daggers at his heart whom he had saved from the sword; Mene servare ut sint qui me perdant! O that I should save men to doe mee such a mischiefe! O that wee should harbour those snakes in our bosomes, which, if wee long keepe them there, will sting us to death! A strange thing it is, and much to bee la­mented, that the soule should prescribe remedies against the maladies of the bodie, and yet procure nourishment for her owne diseases. What are the vitious affections we feed and cherish within us, but so many pernitious infections of the minde? What is anger, but a fit of a frenzie? feare, but a sh [...]king feaver? ambition, but a winde collicke? malice, but an apostem? faction, but a convulsion? envie, but a consumption? security, but a dead palsie? lust, but an impure itch? immoderate joy, but a pleasing trance of the soule? These are the greatest causes of our woe, not onely because they disturbe the peace of our conscience, and set us upon scandalous and dange­rous actions; but also because they draw upon us heavie and manifold judgements. From which if we desire to be freed, that they prove not our utter destruction, let us

First, confesse our sinnes with David to be the fuell of Gods wrath, and the fountaine of all our miseries: Psal. 51.4. Against thee, thee onely have wee sinned, and done this, and that, and the third, and many more evils in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and cleere when thou art judged: and with Salv. l. 4. de provid. Sive mi­se [...]ae nostrae sint. sive infir­mitates, sive e­versiones &c. testimoni [...] sunt mali servi & boni domini: quomodo mali servi? quia pa­timur ex parte quod meremur: quomodo boni domini? quia ostendit quid mereamur, sed non irrogat quae meremur. Salvianus, Whatsoever our miseries are, or afflictions, or perse­cutions, or overthrowes, or losses, or diseases, they are testimonies of an evil servant and a good master. How of an evill servant? Because in them we suf­fer in part what wee deserve. How testimonies of a good master? Because by them he sheweth us what wee deserve, and yet layeth not upon us so much as we deserve.

Secondly, let us compose our selves to endure that with patience which we have brought upon our selves: Tute in hoc tristi tibi omne exedendum est.

Thirdly, let us forsake our beloved sinnes, and then God will take a­way his plagues from us: let us be better our selves, and all things shall goe better with us: let repentance be our practise, and a speedy reformati­on [Page 92] our instruction, so Gods judgements shall not bee our destruction.

‘Now O Father of mercy and tender compassion in the bowels of Je­sus Christ, who hast shewed us what wee deserve by our sinnes, and yet hast not rewarded us according to our iniquities, take away our stony hearts from us, and give us hearts of flesh, that thy threats may make a deepe impression in us, and that wee may speedily remove the evill of our sinnes out of thy sight, that thou maist remove the e­vill of punishment from us: so our sinne shall not be our destruction, but thy mercy our salva­tion through Jesus Christ. To whom, &c.’

THE CHARACTERS OF HEAVENLY WISEDOME. A Sermon preached before his Grace, and di­vers other Lords and Judges spirituall and temporall, in Lambeth. THE EIGHTH SERMON.

THe mirrour of humane eloquence apologizing for his undertaking the defence of Murena against Cato the el­der pertinently demandeth Cic. pro Muren. A quo tandem Marce Cato ae­quius est defen­di Consulem quam a Con­sule? who so fit a patron of a Con­sull as a consull himselfe? The like may be said in the ju­stification of King Davids lesson read in my text to Princes and Judges; a quo tandem aequius est doceri Reges quam a Rege? erudiri Judices quam a Judice? Who so proper to tutour Kings as a King? who might better give Judges their charge than the chiefe Judge and Soveraigne Justice in his Kingdome? Not onely nature and bloud, but arts also and professions make a kinde of brotherhood: and an admonition that commeth from a man in place to an­other in like place and office, (that is, spoken by authority to authority) carrieth a double authority, and cannot but be entertained with due respect and carefull regard. Therefore God in his wisedome instructed the Pro­phet David by 2. Sam. 7.3.5. Nathan a Prophet, reproved the Apostle Saint Gal. 2.14. Peter by Paul an Apostle, informed John the Apoc. 7.14. Elder by an Elder, and here adviseth [Page 94] Kings by a King. Be wise now therefore, O ye Kings: be learned yee Judges of the earth.

In this verse we have

• 1. A lesson applied,
  • Of wisedome to Kings.
  • Of instruction to Judges.
• 2. A reason implied in the words of the earth; that is,
  • Either Kings and Judges made of earth,
  • Or made Kings and Judges of earth.

Kings and Judges are but men of earth, earthly and therefore in subje­ction to the God of heaven: and they are made Kings and Judges onely of the earth, that is, earthly and humane affaires, and therefore in subordina­tion to divine and heavenly Lawes. For the order, first King David com­mendeth wisedome to Kings, and then instruction or learning, viz. in the Lawes, to Judges. Kings are above Judges, and wisedome, the glorie of a Prince, above learning, the honour of a Judge. Kings make Judges, and wisdome makes learned: as the power of Kings is the source of the autho­ritie of Judges, so wisedome is the fountaine of all lawes, and consequently of all instruction and learning in them. First therefore be wise O ye Kings to make good Lawes, and then be learned O ye Judges in these Lawes, and found

• Yee your wisedome,
• Yee your learning in humility:

for it is earth not onely upon which your consistory stands, but also of which you your selves consist. As the tongue is moved partly by a muscle in it selfe, partly by an artery from the heart: so besides the motive to these vertues in this verse it selfe, there is a reason drawne by the spirit to enforce these duties from the heart of this Psalme, ver. 6. which is like an artery con­veying spirit and life to this admonition here: Yet have I set my King, &c. as if the Prophet had said, Behold, O Kings, a throne above yours set in the starres: behold, O Judges of the earth, a tribunall or judgement seat above yours established in the clouds. There is a King of heaven by whom all earthly Kings reigne, and a Judge of quicke and dead to whom all Judges of the earth are accountable.

Kings are dreadfull to their subjects, God to Kings: Judges call other men to the barre, but Christ Jesus shall summon all Judges one day to his tribu­nall, Cyp. de mortal. justissimè judicaturus a quibus est injustissimè judicatus, most justly to judge Judges by whom both in himselfe and in his members he hath beene most unjustly judged.

O Kings. The more excellent the office the more eminent the qualitie ought to be: no vertue so befits a Prince as religious wisedome, the Queen of all vertues: be wise therefore O yee Kings, excell in the grace which [Page 95] excelleth all others: crowne your royall dignitie with all Princely ver­tues, and chaine them all together in prudence with the linkes follow­ing. Serve the Lord with feare, feare him with joy, rejoyce in him with love, and love him with confidence. First, serve him not carelesly, but sollici­tously, fearing to displease him. Secondly, feare him, not servilely, but fi­lially, with joy. Thirdly, rejoyce in him, not presumptuously, but awful­ly, with trembling. Fourthly, Tremble before him, not desperately, but hopefully; so feare him in his judgements, that ye embrace him in his mercies, and kisse him in the face of Jesus Christ. Though he frowne on you in his anger, yet still seeke to please him: yea, though he smite you in his wrath, and kill you all the day long, yet put your trust in him and you shall be happie.

Be wise. Wisedome is the mindes Arist. Eth. [...] eye, by which she pryeth into all the secrets of nature, and mysteries of State, and discerneth betweene good and evill, and prudently guideth all the affaires of life, as the helme doth a ship. No good can be done without her direction, nor evill bee avoyded but by her forecast. She is the chiefe of the foure cardinall vertues, and may rightly be stiled Cardinalium cardo, the hinge that turnes them all a­bout. They advance not till she strikes an alarum, nor retire till she sound a retreat. What the Apostle speakes of the three heavenly graces, now there 1 Cor. 13.13. remaine these three, faith, hope, and charity, but the greatest of these is charitie; may be in like manner affirmed concerning the preheminence of wisedome in respect of the other cardinall vertues, now there remaine these foure:

• 1. Wisedome to direct,
• 2. Justice to correct,
• 3. Temperance to abstaine,
• 4. Fortitude to sustaine;

but the greatest of these is wisedome. For wisedome informeth justice, moderateth temperance, and leadeth fortitude. Wisedome giveth rules to justice, setteth bounds to temperance, putteth reines on fortitude. With­out wisedome justice hurteth others, temperance our selves, Horat. od. car. l. fortitude both our selves and others.

Saint Bernard. ser. 85. in cant. Sapien­tia a sapore di­cta est quia vir­tuti velut con­dimentum ac­cedens sapidam reddit. Bernard deriveth sapientia a sapore, sapience from sapour, because wisedome giveth a good rellish to vertue. Discretion is the salt of all our actions, without which nothing that is done or spoken is savourie. What doth pregnancie of wit, or maturitie of judgement, or felicitie of memorie, or varietie of reading, or multiplicitie of observation, or gracefulnesse of deliverie steed a man that wanteth wisedome and discretion to use them? In these respects and many more Solomon the wisest King that ever wore corruptible Crowne, in his prayer to God preferreth wisedome to all o­ther gifts whatsoever. And indeed so admirable a vertue, so rare a perfe­ction, so inestimable a treasure it is, that the heathen who had but a glimpse of it, discover it to be a beame of that light which no man can approach unto, [Page 96] Cic. Tus. quaest. haec est una hominis sapientia, non arbitrarite scire quod nescias: this is the chiefest point of mans wisedome, saith Tully out of Socrates his mouth, to have no opinion of his wisedome, but to know that undoubtedly he knoweth nothing, at least as he ought to know. Justinian, though a great Emperour, could not avoid the censure of folly for calling his wife by the name of Sapientia; because, saith Saint Austin, nomen illud augu­stius est quam ut homini conveniat: because the name of wise, and much more of wisedome in the abstract, is too high a title for any on earth to beare. What greater folly then can be imagined in any man or woman to assume wisedome to themselves, whose greatest wisedome consisteth in the humble acknowledgement of their follies and manifold oversights? Therefore Lactantius wittily comes over the seven wise masters, as they are called, whom antiquity no lesse observed than Sea-men doe the se­ven Starres about the North Pole. When, saith he, Lact. [...]. 4. divin. instit [...]. 1. Sicae­ter [...] omnes praeter ipsos stulti fuer [...]nt, ne illi quidem sa­pientes, qu [...]ane­ [...] sapiens ve­ [...]e st [...]ltorum ju­dicio esse potest. there were but se­ven wise men in all the world, I would faine know in whose judgement they were held so, in their owne or the judgement of others; if in the judgement of others, then of fooles, by their owne supposition em­paling all wisedome within the breasts of those seven: if in their owne judgement they were esteemed the onely wise of that age, then must they needs be fooles; for no such foole as he who is wise in his owne conceit. This consideration induced Socrates to pull downe his crest, and re­nounce the name of a wise man, and exchange Sophon into Philosophon, the name of Sophister into Philosopher, of wise into a lover of wise­dome, with which title all that succeeded him in his Schoole of wise­dome contented themselves. When the Sphinx Philo­soph. c. 7. Gryphus. Milesian Fishermen drew up in their net a massie piece of gold in the forme of a Table or planke, there grew a great strife and contention in Law whose that draught should be, whether the Fishermens who rented the fishing in that river, or the Lords of the soyle and water. In the end, fearing on all hands lest this Altar of gold should melt away in law charges, they deferre the judge­ment of this controversie to Apollo, who by his Oracle answered, that it neither appertained to the Fishermen, nor to the Lord of the Mannor, but ought to bee delivered as a present to the wisest man then living. Whereupon this golden Table was first tendered to Thales the Milesian, who sendeth it to Bias, Bias to Solon, Solon in the end to Apollo, whom the heathen adored as the God of wisdome. By this shoving of the Ta­ble from wise man to wise man, and in the end fixing it in the Temple of Apollo, they all in effect subscribed to the judgement of him who thus concludes his Epistle, To Rom 16.27. 1 Tim. 1.17. To the King immor­tall, invisible, the onely wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever. God onely wise bee glory for ever. And questionlesse, if wee speake of perfect and absolute wisedome, it must bee adored in heaven, not sought for on the earth. Hee alone knoweth all things, who made all things: hee comprehendeth them in his science, who containeth them in his essence. Yet ought we to seeke for the wise­dome here meant as for treasure: and although wee may not hope in this life to be wise unto perfection, yet may we and ought we to know the ho­ly Scriptures which are able to make us 2 Tim. 3.15. wise unto salvation. In these we find a fourefold wisedome mentioned:

1. Godly wisedome is here meant, as the words following make it evi­dent, Serve the Lord with feare; and reason makes it yet more evident. For the Prophet needed not to exhort Princes to worldly wisdome, the point of Policie is too well studied by them: nor to fleshly wisdome, for they most­ly take but too much care to fulfill their lusts, and maintain their Port, and provide for their temporall peace and safetie. As for divellish wisedome, which makes men wise to doe Jer. 4.22. evill, so holy a Prophet as David was would not so much as have taken it in his lips, unlesse peradventure to brand it with the note of perpetuall infamie. The wisedome therefore which he here commendeth to Kings is a godly, a holy, and a heavenly wisedome. A wisedome which beginneth in the feare of God, and endeth in the salva­tion of man. A wisedome that rebuketh the wisedome of the flesh, and de­spiseth the wisedome of the world, and confoundeth the wisedome of the Divell. A wisedome that advertiseth us of a life after this life, and a death after this death, and sheweth us the meanes to attaine the one, and avoid the other. Morall or civill wisedome is as the eye of the soule, but this wise­dome the Spirit here preferreth to Kings, is the eye of the spirit. Ubi desi­nit Philosophus ibi incipit Medicus, where the Philosopher ends there the spi­rituall Physician begins. The highest step of humane wisedome is but the lowest and first of divine. As Moses his face shined after he communed with God, so all morall and intellectuall vertues, after we have communi­on with Christ, and he commeth neere to us by his spirit, receive a new lustre from supernaturall grace. Prudence or civill wisedome is in the soule as a precious diamond in a ring; but spirituall wisedome is like Solis jubar, the Sunnes rayes falling upon this Diamond, wonderfully beautifying and illustrating it. Of this heavenly light, at this time by the eye-salve of the Spirit cleering our sight, wee will display five beames.

1. The first, to beginne with our end, and to provide for our eternall estate after this life in the first place. For here we stay but a while, and be our condition what it will be, it may be altered: there wee must a­bide by it, without any hope of change. Here wee slide over the Sea of glasse mentioned in the Apoc. 15.2. And I saw as it were a sea of glasse. Apocalyps, but there we stand immoveable in our stations: here we are like wandring starres erraticke in our motions, there we are fixed for ever, either as starres in heaven to shine in glorie, or as brandirons in hell to glowe in flames. Therefore undoubtedly the unum necessarium, the one thing above all things to be thought upon is, what shall become of us after we goe hence, and be no more seene. The heathen saw the light of this truth at a chincke as it were, who being demanded why they built for themselves glorious sepulchres, but low and base houses, answered, because in the one they sojourned but for a short space, in the other they dwelt. To this Solomon had an eye when hee termeth [Page 98] the grave mans Eccles. 12.5. Man goeth to his long home, and the mo [...]rners goe a­bout the streets. long home; and a greater than Solomon, when he infor­meth his Disciples that in his Joh 14.2. Fathers house there are many mansions, that is, standing or abiding places. Such are many in heaven built upon preci­ous stones, but none on earth: here we have onely stands for an houre, or boothes for a Faire, or bowers for a dance, or at the most Innes for a bait. Eccles. 3.2. There is a time, saith the wise man, to bee borne, and a time to die: what, and no time betwixt? sometimes none at all, as in those that are still-borne: if it be any, as sometimes it is, he makes no reckoning of it, but joynes death immediately to our birth, as if they were contigu­ous, and our cradles stood in our grave. The space betweene our birth and death, be it extended to the longest period, is but a moment in respect of eternity, and yet ex hoc momento pendet aeternitas, upon the well or ill employing of this moment dependeth our eternitie. I will tell you a strange thing saith Sen ep. ad Lucil. Seneca, Many die before they begin to live. I can tell you a stranger thing, many die before ever they thinke of the true life. These, howsoever they may carry the name of wise and great States-men, yet when it will be too late they shall see their folly farre to exceed that of the simplest Idiot in the world: when at the houre of their death fin­ding that they have laid out their whole stocke of wealth and wit in pur­chasing and furnishing a chamber in a thorough fare, and provided them­selves no house in the Citie, where they are for ever to abide, shall cry out in the bitternesse of their soule, either with Carion. in Cron. Severus, Omnia fui, & nihil profui; I have beene all things, and yet have done no good at all: or with Adrian,

O my pretty soule, the pleasant guest and companion of my bodie, in­to what places shalt thou now goe, naked, cold, and trembling! or with the afflicters of the righteous; Wisd. 5.8, 9, 10.13. What hath pride profited us? or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us? All these things are passed away like a shadow, and like a post that hasteth by. And as a Ship that passeth over the waves of the water, which when it is gone by, the trace thereof cannot bee found, neither the path-way of the keele in the waves: Even so wee in like manner, as soone as wee were borne, began to draw to our end, and had no signe of vertue to shew, but were consumed in our owne wickednesse. I like well of his resoluti­on who said, [...], I hate that wise man, whose wisedome reflects not upon himselfe, who is no whit bettered by his wisedome. Hee cannot bee wise who is not provident: hee is not provident who prepares not a place for his soule after shee is dis­lodged of the bodie. Hee is no thriftie man who lavisheth out his time, and spendeth his strength in pursuing shadowes, when with lesse paine and cost hee might have purchased a substantiall and indefeisable estate: hee is no good husband who taketh perpetuall care for his temporall affaires, and taketh little or none at any [Page 99] time for his spirituall and eternall; who gathereth treasure upon earth, where rust and Matth. 7.19. moth doth corrupt, and theeves breake thorough and steale; and lay­e [...] up no treasure in heaven, where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt, and theeves doe not breake thorough and steale: who drives a great and rich trade in forraine parts, and returnes no money by letters of exchange, sent by the hands of the poore, to be repaid him upon his return into his country in hea­ven: who travels sea and land to dig into the bowels of the earth, yea and sometimes rakes hell also for unrighteous Luke 16.9. Mammon, and when he hath great store of it, makes no friends with it, that when he failes they may re­ceive him into everlasting habitations.

2. The second precept is to informe our selves certainely how we stand in the Court of heaven, whether recti in curia or no: to know by the refle­ction of grace in our soules, whether Gods countenance shine upon us, or there be a cloud betweene it and us. For as the Plin. nat. hist. l. 9. c. 35. Coeli iis major socie­tas est quam maris, inde nu­bilum trahunt colorem aut pro claritate matutina sere­num. Margarite or pearle hath such affinity with the skie, that if it be bred at the opening of the shell fish in a cleere morning, the colour thereof is cleere, and the stone most orient: but if in a duskie evening, or when the heaven is over-cast with clouds, the colour thereof is darker, and the stone lesse precious: so the hidden man of the heart is lightsome and cheerefull when Gods face shines upon him, but sad and dejected when heaven lowres upon him. Without assurance that we are in the state of grace, and reconciled to God in Christ, there is no com­fort in life and death, because no sound joy, nor settled peace within. Neither is it so easie a matter as some imagine to get this assurance, or the know­ledge thereof. For not onely the sicke patient, but also sometimes the skil­full Physician is deceived in the state of our bodie, though all ordinary dis­eases have their certaine symptomes by which they may be knowne, even to sense: how much more difficult a thing is it certainely to judge of the state of our soule? A man may set a good face on it, as Tiberius did, and brave it out, yea and riot also, who yet hath such a secret disease which will make an end of him in a few houres. Nay, a man may take infection, or receive some bruise inwardly, or spring some veine, and yet not know of it till it be too late to cure it: in like maner, a man that maketh great profession of Religion, and carrieth a great appearance of piety and sanctity, both at Church and in his owne house, feeling no inward gripe of conscience, may yet have taken some infection of Heresie, or have still in him some poyson of malice, or bruise of faction, or rupture of schisme, or corrupt humours of luxurie, and daily decay in grace, and be in a spirituall con­sumption, and yet perceive it not. I have no commission to ransacke a­ny mans conscience, nor to make privie search for concealed Idols, or masqued hypocrisie, or vailed impudencie, or closely conveyed bribe­ry, or secretly vented luxurie, or statutable usurie, or legall simonie, or customary sacriledge. Onely I will bee bold to say the least breach which any of the above named sinnes make in the conscience, is like a small leake in the bottome of a Ship, which, if it be not stopped in time, will drowne the greatest vessell, fraught with the richest merchandise. Your experience sheweth you that Bristow and Cornish stones, and many other false gems, have such a lustre in them, and so sparkle like true jewels, that a cunning Lapidarie, if he be not carefull, may be cheated with them: [Page 100] such are the enlightning graces which shine in hypocrites, they so neerly resemble the true sanctifying and saving graces of the Elect, that the eye of spirituall wisedome it selfe may mistake them, if it be not single, and looke narrowly into them. Are not repentance from dead workes, faith in Christ, peace of conscience, and joy in the holy Ghost, the proper characters of a regenerate Christian and an elect childe of God? Yet Esau counterfeited the first: (the Heb 12.17. Apostle saith that after he had sold his birth-right he sought it with teares.) Simon Magus the second: (St. Luke saith he Acts 8.13. beleeved.) The man possessed in the Gospell the third: (our Saviour saith all things were in Luke 11.21. peace in his house.) The Jewes the fourth: (the text saith they Joh. 5 35. re­joyced at St. Johns preaching.) Here then is worke for spirituall wisedome to discerne Gib. in Cant. Qualis un­guentorum ar­tifex est satanas qui de mortis olla vitae vapo­res exire simu­lat, & venenum quasi balsamum facit sp [...]are! a sented poyson from Balsamum, to distinguish tears of repen­tance, such as Peters were, from teares of discontent and revenge, such as Heb. 12.17. E­sau's were: a temporarie faith, such as Act. 8.13. Simon Magus his was, from a justi­fying, such as Luke 9.9. Zacheus his was: a feared conscience, such as the Luke 11.21. When a strong man armed kee­peth his Palace, his goods are in peace. possessed man had, from a secured conscience, such as St. Acts 24.16. Pauls was: lastly, a sud­den exultation of the spirit, such as the John 5 [...]5 Ye were willing for a season to rejoyce in his light. Jewes was, from true joy in the holy Ghost, such as Psal. 4.7. Davids was.

3. The third point of spirituall wisedome is, to consider what infirmities and maladies of minde our naturall constitution, state, place, or profession, or course of life maketh us most subject unto, and to furnish our selves with store of remedies against them; to mark where we lie most open to temptation, and there to have our ward readie. For Satan playeth alwayes upon advan­tage, and for the most part boweth us that way to which we incline of our selves, through the weakenesse of our nature: he sailes ever with the wind. Is our knowledge in matter of faith deficient? he tempts us to error. Is our conscience tender? he tempteth us to scrupulositie and too much precise­nesse. Hath our conscience like the eclipticke line some latitude? he temp­teth us to carnall libertie. Are we bold spirited? he tempteth us to pre­sumption. Are we timorous and distrustfull? he tempteth us to desperati­on? Are we of a flexible disposition? he tempteth us to inconstancie. Are we stiffe? he labours to make obstinate Heretikes, Scismatikes, or Rebels of us. Are we of an austere temper? he tempteth us to crueltie? Are we soft and milde? he tempteth us to indulgence and foolish pitie. Are we hot in matter of Religion? he tempteth us to blind zeale and superstition. Are we cold? he tempteth us to Atheisme and flat irreligion. Are we moderate? he tempteth us to Laodicean lukewarmednesse. The Camelion when he lieth on the grasse to catch flies and grashoppers, taketh upon him the co­lour of the grasse; as the Polypus doth the colour of the rock, under which he lurketh, that the fish may boldly come neere him without any suspi­tion of danger: in like maner Sathan turnes himselfe into that shape which we least feare, and sets before us such objects of temptation as are most a­greeable to our humours, naturall desires, and inclinations, that so he may the sooner draw us into his net. St. Greg. l. 29. mor. in Job. c. 38. Prius consper­sionem uniuscu­jus (que) antiquus adversarius perspicit, & tunc tentationis laqueos appo­nit, alius nam (que) laeti [...], alius tri­stibus, alius ti­midis, alius cla­ris moribus ex­istit. Qu [...] ergo occultus adver­sarius facile ca­piat vicinas conspersioni­bus deceptiones parat. Quia e­nim laetitiae voluptas juxta est, laetis mori­bus luxuriem proponit & quia tristitia in i [...]am facile labitur, tristibus poculum dis­cordiae porr [...]git, paventibus ter­rores int [...]ntat, & quia ela os extolli laudibus conspicit, eos blandis favoribus trahit: singulis igitur hominibus vitiis convenientibus insidiatur. Gregorie long agoe noted this subtle de­vice of the wily serpent, he hath, saith he, fit allurements for all sorts of men, as fishermen have baits for fishes: for the luxurious he baiteth his hooke with pleasure; for the ambitious, with honor; for the covetous with gain; for the [Page 101] licentious with libertie, for the factious with schisme, for the studious with curiosity, for the vaine-glorious with popularity. Here then is our spiritu­all wisedome seene to be strong alwayes, there where our enemie is like to lie in ambush, and where he goeth about to undermine us, to meet him with a countermine. To unfold this precept of wisdome even to the meanest ca­pacity: Art thou by nature a lover of pleasure? bend thy whole strength against the sin of luxurie. Art thou of a fiery disposition? lay all upon it to bridle thy passion of anger, and desire of revenge. Hast thou too much earth in thy complexion, and art given to the world? furnish thy selfe continually with spirituall levers to lift up thy heart, and raise thy thoughts and affections to heaven and heavenly objects. Doth the eminencie of thy place bring thee in danger of high mindednesse? let thy whole study bee humility. Doth thy profession incline thee to contention? study peace: to dissembling and cousening? study honesty: to extortion and exaction? study charity, and practise restitution: to corruption and receiving the wa­ges of iniquity? let all thy prayers and endeavours be for integrity.

Socrates was wont say, facile est Athenienses Athenis laudare, that it was no unpleasing argument to commend the vertues of the Athenians at Athens: neither will it seeme burthensome I hope to recommend yet more instructions of wisedome to you that are wise. God hath spread abroad the heaven and the earth as large samplars before our eyes, wherein every act of his speciall providence in governing the affaires of the world is as a flower or curious piece of drawne-worke, which a wise man ought to take out by observation, and worke it in his owne life by imitation.

4. The fourth lesson therefore which wisedome readeth to all those that have eares to heare, is to observe the carriage of all affaires in this great City of the world, and to set a marke upon Gods wonderfull protection and care over the godly, and his fearefull judgements upon the wicked. From the former spiri­tuall wisdome gathereth the sweet fruit of comfort, from the latter the bit­ter fruit of terror, from both the most wholesome fruit of instruction. The fruit of comfort she gathereth by using Jacobs ladder to rest upon, when she is weary, Hagars fountaine to quench her thirst, the widowes meale to sustaine her in famine, Jonah's gourd to shade her in heat, Jonathans hony to cleere her eye-sight, Hezekia's figs to heale her plague-sores, the Sama­ritan's oyle to supple her wounds, and Christs Crosse to support her in all. The bitter fruit of terrour she gathereth when she maketh the drow­ning of the old world a warning to her for security, the confusion of Lan­guages at Babel for pride, the burning of Sodome for unnaturall lust, the pil­lar of salt into which Lot's wife was turned for backsliding and disobedi­ence, the plagues of Egypt for hardness of heart, the captivity of Israel and Ju­dah for Idolatry, and the finall destruction of the City and Temple for in­fidelity, and persecution of Christ and his Gospell. When the Divell offe­reth us any forbidden fruit, seem it never so pleasant to the eye, let us thinke of Adam; when a wedge of gold, of Achan; when red broth, of Esau; when a pleasant vineyard lying neere to our house, of Ahab; when a bribe, of Ge­hazi; when holy vessels to carouse in, of Belshazzar; when mony for the gifts of the holy Ghost, of Simon Magus; when the price of innocent bloud, of Judas; when a share in sacriledge, of Ananias. Let us learn by Adams fall [Page 102] to shut our eares against evill counsell; by Noahs shame, to abhorre drun­kennesse; by Davids adultery, to fly idlenesse; by Josephs swearing by the life of Pharaoh, to avoid ill company; by Peters deniall, to beware of presuming on our owne strength; by Pauls buffetting, to take heed of spiri­tuall pride. Doe the students at the law follow all Courts, and are ready at all assizes with their table-books to note what passeth in all trials, to put downe the cases, and take the sentences of the Judges: and shall we neglect the judgements of the Almighty, and not write downe in the tables of our memories such cases as are ruled in the Court of heaven? There is nothing will more deject us in the opinion of our own wisdome, and stir us up to the admiration of Gods wisedome, justice, and power, than to observe how he compasseth the wise of the world in their owne wayes, and shooteth be­yond them in their owne bow, and over-reacheth them in their highest de­signes: how he chuseth the foolish things of the world to convince and re­buke the wise; the weake things of the world to conquer the mighty; the ignoble things of the world to obscure the glorious; and the things that are not to confound the things that are. When we see him draw light out of darknesse, sweet out of sower, comfort out of misery, joy out of sorrow, and life out of death, how can we distrust his goodnesse? Again, when we see on the sudden how he turneth day into night, liberty into captivity, beauty into ashes, joy into heavinesse, honour into shame, wealth into want, rule into ser­vitude, life into death, how can we but feare his power? When we see Scepters made of mattocks, and mattocks of Scepters; hovils of Palaces, and Palaces of hovils; valleyes raised high, and hils brought low, Kings cast out of their thrones to the ground, and poore raised out of the dunghill to sit with Princes; how can we be proud? When we observe the godly man like the Oxe that goeth to plow, worn out with labour and pain, and the wicked like beasts fatted for the slaughter, abound with riotous superfluity, how can we but be patient? When we see daily stars rise and fall in the firmament of the Church, how can we then but be solicitous? Lastly, when we see our wants as well as our wealth, our defects as well as our exceedings, our falls as well as our risings, our sorrowes as well as our joyes, our fasts as well as our feasts, our sicknesse as well as our health, our terrors as well as our com­forts, our crosses and afflictions as well as those we call blessings worke for the best for us, how can we but be content? This rule of wisedome every man by his experience can easily draw out at length, and the time calls upon me to cut the threed of this discourse: wherefore in a word I will now deli­ver that precept of wisedome in the last place which in practice must chal­lenge the first, viz. that in all serious and weighty affaires, especially such as concerne our spirituall estate, we aske counsell of God, who among other glo­rious attributes, described by the Prophet Isaiah, is stiled the wonderfull Esay 9.6. His name shalbe called the wonderfull counseller. A [...]oc. 3.18. I counsell thee to buy of me gold, &c. Counseller, who freely gives us that counsell which cannot be got by any fee from mortall man. Successe crowneth no great attempt which wisdome undertaketh not: wisdome undertaketh nothing but by the advice of coun­sell, and no counsell safe in deliberations of this kind but from the spirit of God. The Israelites usually asked counsell of God by the Ephod, the Greci­ans by their Oracles, the Persians by their Magi, the Egyptians by their Hirophantae, the Indians by their Gymnosophistae, the ancient Gaules and [Page 103] Brittaines by their Druides, the Romans by their Augures or Soothsayers. It was not lawfull to propose any matter of moment in the Senate, Cic. de Arusp. resp. prius­quam de coelo servatum erat, before their wisards had made their observations from the heaven or skie. That which they did impiously and superstitiously, we may, nay we ought to doe in another sense piously, ( viz.) not to imbark our selves into any action of great importance and consequence, priusquam de coelo servavimus, before we have observed from heaven, not the flight of birds, or houses of planets, or their aspects or conjuncti [...]ns, such fowle or star-gazing is forbid by a voice from heaven; but the countenance of God, whether it shineth upon our enterprises or not, whether he approve of our endeavours, projects, and designes, or dislike them: if he approve of them we need not feare the successe: for if it be not good for the present, it shall be good: if he dislike them we may not hope for successe; for if the issue be not bad for the present, it shalbe bad in the end. Tullies resolution is good; Cic. ep. ad Att. sa­pientis est nihil praestare praeter culpam, a wise man is to looke to his intentions, and to answer for his actions, that they be without blame, not to undertake for the events. Let us make good our ends, and the meanes we use, and God will make good the issue, and turne all to the best. A Pilot, as Quintilian obser­veth, cannot be denied his lawfull plea dum clavum rectum teneam, though the ship be cast away or drowned he is not to make satisfaction, so long as he held the sterne right, and guided it by the compasse: in like maner, though our actions and good intentions miscarrie in the event, we are not to be bla­med if we steered our course by the compasse of Gods word: though the barke be cast away, as St. Pauls was, the lives of all in it shall be safe: and our tem­porall losses shall alway turne to our spirituall and eternall advantage. Yea, but God is in heaven, we are upon earth, how may we come to have speech with him, or open our case to him, or receive answer from him? The Jewes had two meanes to receive answer from him, either by the mouth of the Prophets, when the spirit was on them, or from the Priests, when they had put on the breast-plate of judgement: we have no such meanes now to en­quire the will of God, neither are visions nor dreames by which men in for­mer times understood the pleasure of God, now either frequent, or undoub­ted oracles of truth; yet have we still meanes to advise with God both by prayer and consulting the holy Scriptures. Of the former St. James spea­keth; Jam. 1.5. If any man lacke wisedome, that is, counsell and direction in his af­faires, let his aske it of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shalbe given him. But let him aske in faith nothing wavering, &c. Of the second the Prophet David: Psal. 119.24. Thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellers; in the Hebrew, men of my counsell.

Having now composed the presse, what remains but to clap it to the sheets, and labour by a word of exhortation to print some of these rules in your harts? Be wise now, &c. Be wise, 1. In the choice of your wisdome: 2. Be instru­cted in the means of your instruction, make choice of the wisdome that com­meth from above from the Father of lights, not that which commeth from beneath from the Prince of darkness: receive instruction from the spirit, not from the flesh: from God, not from the world: so shall you be wise unto sal­vation and instructed to eternal life. Be your selves clients and sutors to God before your clients and sutors have accesse unto you; ask counsel of him be­fore [Page 104] you give counsell to them: and content not your selves with the waters of the brooke or rivelet, but have recourse to the Cic. de orat. l. 2. Tard [...] est inge­ni [...] rivulos con­sectari, fontes rerum non vi­dere. fountain. Now the foun­taine of all law is the wisedome of God, as the wisest of the heathen Law­givers in effect acknowledged it: Zamolxis ascribing the lawes (he delive­red to the people) to Vesta, Zoroaster to Hormasis, Trismegistus to Mercu­rie, Lycurgus to Apollo, Solon to Minerva, Numa to the Nymph Aegeria, Minos to Jupiter. If time be well spent in searching records of Courts, and evidences of conveyances, and titles of lands, how much better in searching the holy Scriptures which are the records of heaven, the deeds of Almighty God, and evidences of our salvation? Who would not search where he may be sure to find treasure? In Scriptures you may be sure to finde it, wherein all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge are hid: the treasures of naturall Philosophy in Genesis; of morall Philosophy in Exodus, Deuteronomie, and Ecclesiastes; of the Politickes in the Judicials of Moses, and the Pro­verbes of Solomon; of Poetry in the Psalmes; of History in the bookes of Chronicles, Judges, and Kings; of the Mathematickes in the dimensions of the Arke and Temple; of the Metaphysickes in the bookes of the Prophets and the Apocalyps. Doe you desire that the tree of your knowledge in the Law should spread farre and neere, and that all men should shade themselves under your boughes? Water the root of the tree which beareth up your lawes, and sendeth sap and life to all the branches thereof, and that is true religion: for Psal. 111.10. the feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisedome: and a good understanding and care have all they that follow after it. First, to look to the maine chance, and provide for their eternall estate in another world: next, to learne certainly that they are in state of grace here: thirdly, to observe where they are weakest, and there to strengthen themselves against the assaults of the enemie: fourthly, to make use of the historie of the world, and comment upon the speciall workes of Gods providence: lastly, to entertaine God his Pro­phets and Apostles for their learned counsell, to direct them in all their suits in the Court of heaven, and managing all their weightiest affaires on earth: so shall they be sure to attain that which David so earnestly sought of God by prayer, saying, Psal. 73.24. Guide me by thy counsell, and after that receive me to thy glory. To whom, &c.

THE JUDGES CHARGE. A Sermon preached at the Readers Feast in LINCOLNES Inne. THE NINTH SERMON.

AT the siege of Tarentum, Aelian. de Var. hist. l. 5. when the Citizens were driven by extremitie of famine to the point of yeel­ding themselves into the hands of the Romans, they were strangely relieved by the charity of their neighbours at Rhegium, who every tenth day fasted themselves, and sent in their provision for that day to the Tarentines. In memory of which reliefe they kept ever after a feast which they cal­led Jejunium, o [...] Festum jejunii, the Fasts feast, or a feast grounded on a fast. Such is the Feast bid at this time in this place, gained by a long pre­scription out of the Lent Fast. It may rightly be called Festum Jejunii, the Feast of the Fast; a Feast of the Law beside, if not contrarie to the Law of Feasts appointed by the Church. Wherein yet I conceive, according to the right meaning of the first founders of this exercise and Feast, the Eccle­siasticall cannons of the Church, and locall statutes of these houses doe not harshly clash one against the other; but rather like strings tuned alike, and dexterously touched, make a perfect chord, and strike full unisons, both in­tending Festum Jejunii; the one a spirituall, the other a scholasticall; the one an Evangelicall, the other a Legall Feast in the time of Fast. For the Church appointeth more frequent exercises of pietie and devotion, Prayers, Lectures, and Sermons, (which are the soules dainties) at this time, than any other season of the yeere. And agreeable hereunto in the U­niversities, which are the Nurseries of Religion and Arts, and in these noble [Page 106] Seminaries of justice, and knowledge in the lawes, the most solemne and profitable exercises for the proficiencie of students, (whether readings, disputations, or determinations) have beene, time out of minde, and are yet performed in the Lent: wherein the eye of the soule is the more apt and single for the contemplation of divine and humane knowledge, by how much it is freer from the fumes of bodily meats, and the smoake of worldly cares and businesse. As for the exceeding in some one day or other in varie­ty of all palate provocations, it is a vaine thing for me or any other to speake against it; quia venter non habet aures, the belly hath no eares, especially to heare any thing against it selfe. If it had, I should have craved a Writ of re­move of these Vitellian feasts out of the confines of Lent, or made a mo­tion, that these surcharges of purse and stomacke might be turned into the Lacedaemonian Phiditia were sparing meales, or frugall seasts: so named from ecl. [...] signifying to spare or be thrifty. Phiditia, or at least that the superaboundancie in them might not be wasted by luxurie, to the hurt of our owne bodies, but dis­penced by charity to the reliefe of others; that devotion might recover that in almes deeds which it loseth in fasting: so would our tender and indul­gent Mother, Christs dearest Spouse the Church, vouchsafe these mee­tings her presence, as Mary the Mother of Jesus was present at the Feast in Cana; and Christ himselfe would furnish the wine of spirituall joy and gladnesse, even at these Feasts, though, like Saint Paul, 1 Cor. 15.8. borne out of due time.

But I leave the time, and have an eye to the notes pricked in my text, which are three:

• 1. Religion enjoyneth learning: Be learned.
• 2. Learning becommeth and qualifieth Judges: Ye Judges.
• 3. Judges give sentences of, and rules for land: The earth.

1. Divine wisedome excludeth not humane learning: Be learned.

2. Learning is not onely a comely ornament, but a necessary accoustre­ment of a Judge: Ye Judges.

3. All Judges on earth are Judges of earth, that is, consisting of earth, or sitting upon the earth: The earth. The earth is their materia ex qua, and circa quam too.

• 1. The matter of which they are made.
• 2. The matter on which they make and give their judgement and sencence.

‘O all ye Kings of these Netherlands, manum ad Sceptrum, oculos ad Astra: there is a King above who over-lookes you all, and will one day breake your Scepters with his Iron mace. O yee Judges of this lower Circle and Circuits, manum ad Gladium, oculos ad Astra: there is a Judge of heaven who will set his tribunall in the clouds, and call all you to his bar, and your judgements in question before him. Be wise now therefore O ye Kings, advance his Kingdome in yours: be learned ye Judges of the earth, declare his judgement by yours.’

Tullie giveth this character of Thacydides, that in his writings there are [Page 107] neere as many Cic. declar. o­rat. Numerum verborum nu­mero sententia­rum penè con­secutus est. sentences as words: such is the Rhetorike of this parcell of holy writ, the parts are answerable to the words, the points of doctrine to the parts, the uses to the points of doctrine.

• 1 Erudimini, there is the charge.
• 2 Judices, there is the stile.
• 3 Terrae, there is the circuit of the Judges.

• 1 Be learned, there is the aime of your study.
• 2 Yee Judges, there is the title of your place.
• 3 Of the earth, there is the embleme of your frailty.

These parts hold good correspondence;

• 1 The first with this present exercise.
• 2 The second with this honourable auditory.
• 3 The third with this holy time.

• 1 It is most agreeable at a Reading to treat of learning, Be ye learned.
• 2 It is most proper to give the Judges charge before the prime Jud­ges of the kingdome, Ye Judges.
• 3 It is most seasonable to frame a discourse of the mould of us all, earth and ashes, in the time of Lent, Of the earth.

By the law the Levit. 1.16. And ye shall pluck away the filth thereof with his feathers, and cast it besides the Altar, by the place of the ashes. crop, or as it is in the Hebrew, the filth of the birds that were sacrificed, together with their feathers, were to be cast in locum cinerum, into the place of ashes. Now if ever is the season not only to purge or remove the filth of our lives out of the sight of God, but also to cast away the beau­tifull pompes, maskes, shewes, and all othes vanities of the world, which are no better than feathers in locum tinerum, where wee ought to mourne for our sinnes in sacke-cloth and ashes; pulvis & cinis, dust and ashes have great affinity with terrae in my text.

Be learned. When Cic. de orat l. 1. Neque tam molestus mibi fuit Antonius, quod jus no­strum civile pervellit, quam jucundus quod se id nescire confessus est. Antony carped at the study of the civill law, with­all acknowledging his small sight therein, Scaevola a great Lawyer smiling, said, that he made a kind of amends for his invective against the Law, by pro­fessing his ignorance therein. For it is no disparagement to any science or profession to bee sleighted by such as understand it not. A bright beame and great light troubleth, and dazeleth, and paineth also a weake eye, Urit enim fulgore suo. Who can blame Peti. Diale­ct [...]cum crimi­natur, sed cum ad interrogata respondere non possit. Petilian the Donatist for com­plaining of Saint Austins Logicke, whereby that ignorant Hereticke was non-plussed and shamed? Verily as fast hath no enemy but gluttony, cha­stity but lust, frugality but luxurie, wisedome but follie, humilitie but pride, orthodoxe doctrine but heresie, so neither knowledge but ignorance. Wherefore whatsoever faire glosse of the Scriptures selfe-sufficiency the Brownists and Separatists put upon their secret un­dermining of our Schooles and Universities, and stopping up the Well-springs of good Learning among us, their true end is, that Eras. adag In­ter coecos lus­cum regnare posse. among blinde men they might bee some body, who among sharpe-sighted men are no body. [Page 108] For the Latine proverbe puts them in some heart, (viz.) that a purblinde man may be a jolly fellow, nay by good reason chosen a King among such as are starke blinde. Doubtlesse, if ever learning were needfull, it is now adayes most necessary, when men by subtle Sophistry, and deceivable elo­quence, not onely goe about to wrangle us out of our estates, but also jug­gle us out of our Religion. Call ye it a reformation? is it not rather the de­formation of a building to damb up the lights thereof? The state of Aelian de var. hist. l. 3. Gravis­sima [...] poe [...]am inflixerunt ut libe [...]os suos non docerent literas. Mi­ [...]ylene desiring to be revenged to the uttermost on their Confederates that had revolted from them, after they had got the mastery of them, laid this as the forest punishment they could devise upon them; that none of their children should goe to schoole, or be brought up in learning. And in a like regard Julians persecution was accounted more grievous than that of Dio­clesian, though that blasphemous Apostata shed little Christian bloud; in as much as Dioclesian plucked but out the bodily eyes of Saints and Mar­tyrs, (the holes whereof the good Emperour Constantine kissed) whereas Julian by shutting up all Christian schooles, and bereaving them of the light of knowledge, after a sort plucked out the eyes of their soules. Which I speake not for that I conceive the Scriptures are not sufficient of them­selves for our instruction, to enlighten our understanding; but because we are not sufficient for the opening of the meaning of them, without the helps of arts and sciences, the miraculous gifts of the holy Ghost ceasing long be­fore our time. The light of divers rapers in the same roome, though united, yet is not confounded, as the opticks demonstrate, by the distinct shadowes which they cast: neither doth the light of divine knowledge confound that of humane in the soule, but both concurre to the full illumination of the un­derstanding. And as the organe of the bodily eye cannot discerne any thing without a double light, viz.

• 1.
  Brierhood tra­ctat de oculo M.S.
  Lumine innato, an inward light in the christalline humour of the eye.
• 2. Lumine illato, an outward light in the aire, and on the object:

so neither can the eye of the soule in this region of darknesse perfectly di­stinguish the colours of good and evill without a double light, the in-bred light of nature, and the outward light which is acquired by learning; being Lumen not innatum, but illatum: not naturally resplendent in the soule, and brought with it into the world, but ab extrinseco, brought into the soule by reading, hearing, discoursing, contemplating, or divine inspiration. Solo­mon who best knew what belonged to wisedome, sets his wise man to Pro. 1.5. A [...]se man will heare, and will under­stand learning. schoole, and promiseth for him that he will take his P [...] 9.9. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will he yet wiser; teach a [...]t man, and he will in crease in learning. learning, and bee a good proficient in it. And behold a wiser than Solomon, Mat. 13.52. Christ him­selfe compareth every Scribe which is instructed unto the kingdome of hea­ven, to a man that is an housholder, who bringeth out of his treasury new things and old. He likeneth him not to a pedler that hath nothing but inkle, tape, and such like trash in his pack, which he openeth at every mans doore; but to a rich ware-house man, who out of his treasury or ware-house bringeth out precious things, either new or old, as they are called for. Such a Scribe was Moses, who Acts 7.22. was learned in all the wisedome of the Aegyptians. Such a Scribe was Daniel and the foure children that were bred up with him, to [Page 109] whom God Dan. 1.17. gave knowledge and skill in all learning. Such a Scribe was S. Paul, who was Act. 22.3. brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the Law of the Fathers. Neither was he conversant onely in the writings of the Rabbines, but also expert in the heathen Phi­losophers, Orators and Poets, whom he after a sort defloureth of their choi­cest sentences & observations, incorporating them into his most learned and eloquent epistles. Such a Scribe was Clemens Alexandrinus, whose writings in regard of all variety of good literature in them, are called stromata, rare pieces of Arras or Tapestry. Such a Scribe was S. Cyprian, who by Rheto­ricke; Tertullian, who by the civill Law; Justin Martyr, and Origen, who by Philosophy; S. Basil, who by Physicke; S. Austin, who by Logicke; Eusebius, who by history; Prudentius, who by Poetry; Gregory Nazian­zen, Jerome, and many other of the ancient Doctors of the Church, who by exquisite skill in the Arts and learned Languages, exceedingly impro­ved their sacred talent of Scripture-knowledge. Vid. Lyps. Manuducti ad Stoicam Philosophiam. Philo that accomplished Jew deviseth an elegant allegory upon Abrahams companying with Hagar, before he could have issue by Sara. Hagar the bond-woman is secular or humane learning, with which we must have to doe, before wee can promise our selves fruit by Sarah, that is, much profit by the study of divinity. Neither doth this argue any imperfection in the Scriptures, but in us: the starres are most visible in themselves, yet through the imbecilli­ty of our sight, without a perspective glasse we cannot exactly take their e­levation, or true magnitude.

What though God in the first plantation of the Gospell used the indu­stry of illiterate men, and made Fishermen fishers of men, that our 1 Cor. 2.5. faith should not stand in the wisedome of men, but in the power of God? yet after the miraculous gifts of the Spirit fayled in the Church, wee shall read of no Rammes hornes, but Silver Trumpets emploied in the throwing down of Sathans forts. Since that, the promise of dabitur in illa hora, it shall bee given you in that houre, is turned into the precept of attende lectioni, give 1 Tim. 4.13.15 attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, meditate upon these things, give thy selfe wholly unto them, that thy profiting may appeare unto all men. Since the dayes of the Apostles, and their immediate Successors, the learnedst men have proved the worthiest instruments of Gods glory in Church or Commonwealth: Be learned therefore.

Yee Judges. Religion commends learning, and learning a Judge: Numb. 11.17. The Lord tooke of the Spirit which was upon Moses, and put it upon seventy El­ders. This Spirit it is which animateth a Judge, whose briefest and yet fullest definition is Jus animatum, enlived right, or the living law. For the law is a dead and mute Judge, and the Judge is a living and speaking law: As the Philosopher termeth Arist. Rhet. l. 3. Pictura muta poesis, poesis loquens pictu­ra. painting silent Poetry, and Poetry a spea­king picture. Now how can a Judge speake the law, or the law speake by him, if he know not the law? It implyeth a kinde of contradiction for an Actor to bee without action, or an Orator without words, or a Labourer without worke, or a Counsellor without advice, or a Judge without judge­ment in the law. Can an Artificer worke by his rule, who holdeth it not in his hand? or a Pilot steere by the compasse who hath not the compasse before his eye, or understandeth it not? no more can a Judge give sen­tence [Page 110] according to the law, who is ignorant of the law. Ignorance in a pri­vate man is a prejudice, and some blemish to himselfe, but Aug. de civ. Dei. Ignorantia Judicis est ca­lamitas inno­centis. ignorance in a Judge is the calamity of the innocent, nay may prove the ruine of a State. What greater mischiefe in any society than that the estates, good name, livelihood, yea and lives too of men should lye in the breast of a Judge, who out of ignorance is faine to aske Quid est justitia, what is justice? as Pilate did, Quid est veritas, what is the truth? How will the Lawyers work upon this advantage? how far will the Counsell go in a bad cause, upon the strength of a large fee? what false glasses will they set before the eyes of such a Judge to deceive him, and lead him by the nose? Neither will skill in the municipall law alone suffice, and yet that law hath a large walke, and many turnings where hee may lose his way: hee must be well experienced in the affaires of the world: hee must sinke deepe into mens dispositions as well as their speeches: he must be able to weigh reasons, poyze witnesses, reconcile lawes, compare presidents: in a word, hee must be like an Angel of God to discerne betweene good and evill. Among the many titles of a good Judge, who is stiled the soule of the law, the oracle of the city, the priest of justice, the tutour of pupils, the father of orphans, the sanctu­ary of innocents unjustly pursued, me thinks none so fitteth him as Regu­la, or rather Arist. Rhet. l. 1. Regulator juris, a rule, or rather, the ruler of right. For or­ders in Court you call rules, and judge cases in law, ruled cases: now that a man may rule well, that is, in your phrase judge well, sixe things are requisite.

• 1 That he hath skill to rule,
• 2 That his paper, or parchment bee spread abroad, and lye even before him,
• 3 That his eye be on his rule,
• 4 That he have nothing in his hand save his pen or plummet,
• 5 That his hand on his ruler be steady,
• 6 That his hand on his plummet be quick, to draw a line speedily.

Upon these sixe ruled lines wee may write a faire copy for a Judge, ac­cording to the forme following.

• 1 He must have skill to rule, knowledge to judge.
• 2 He must have his paper or parchment spread, that is, the case unfol­ded before him.
• 3 He must fixe his eye on his rule, which is the law.
• 4 He must have nothing in his hand but that wherewith hee ruleth, hee must be empty-handed.
• 5 His hand on his ruler must be steady, it must not shake through feare.
• 6 His hand on his plummet or pen must be swift and ready, he must have a desire and dexterity to rid worke out of his hand, and speedi­ly to set a period to tediously protracted suits.

I had forgot one more circumstance if the last word of my text (earth) had not put me in minde of it, which is this: That a man cannot well rule, [Page 111] or draw exact lines by a ruler upon his paper or parchment, but hee must needs how himselfe and looke downe up on it: neither can any man bee a good Judge who is not humble. For Lypsius truly observeth that it is a very hard thing for a man Lyp polit. l. 4. Difficile est in alto positum non alta sapere. in high place not to bee high minded. Sen. de ira. l. 2. c. 21. Quic­quid leve & in­anc in animo est, secunda fortuna sustol­lit, &c. Honour lifteth up the heart above measure, especially when it is armed with power. Knowledge also puffeth up, especially when it is blowne with the breath of flattery. Wherefore lest wise Kings and learned Judges should too much reflect upon the eminency of their place and gifts, and forget the frailty of their condition, the Prophet giveth them an alloy in the word immediately following the title of their dignities, Terrae, of the earth.

Of the earth. When Bees are most angry in their swarming, cast but a little earth upon them, and they are presently quiet, and leave their hum­ming. Though nothing else can Plin l. 1. c. 104. 106. Limum fla­grantem, mal­tham dictam, terra tantum extingui docue­re experimen­ta. Ignem mon­tis Chimaerae extingui terra & fimo tradit Guidias. quench the burning slime of Samosaris, or the fire in the hill Chimaera, yet earth and dung can: so though nothing else can asswage the tumour of the proud, or quench the burning desire of honour in the ambitious, of wealth in the covetous, of pleasure in the vo­luptuous, yet the consideration of the grave can. Hee that seriously thin­keth with himselfe, these scarlet robes of mine clothe nothing but dung, all my dainty fare feeds but wormes; I who have power of other mens lives, have no power of my owne life, no not for a moment; even whilest I sit upon prisoners, and condemne guilty persons, I am arraigned in my consci­ence, and plead guilty before God. Hee that keepes downe his heart with these thoughts, can no more be overthrowne with pride, than a ship which is well ballast be blowne away in a storme. Great personages, the stronger guard they have about them, the more they lye open to envie: the more secure they are by their authority, the more in danger they are of surpri­zall by pride. Judges were Princes among the Jewes before the dayes of Saul, and Princes were Judges among the Romanes, as Augustus and A­drian. I finde the title of Psal. 82.1. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty, he judgeth among the Gods. & v. 6. I have said ye are Gods. Gods in Scripture attributed not onely to So­veraigne Kings, who are the supreme Judges, but to inferiour Judges also, subordinate to Princes: their Bodin. de rep c. 4. Lex Horatia est, Jovi sacrum esse caput ejus qui Judici no­cuerit. persons by the Roman lawes were sacred, hee who hurt them was presently to be sacrificed. In France when a Gal­lant in his ruffe strucke a Judge, by an arrest of the Parliament at Paris his hand was suddenly cut off, and a heavie fine layd upon him. The pri­viledges of Judges granted to them by Princes, in whose seat they sit, their power, their wealth, their clyents, their retinue, their robes, their maces, their officers, their titles will exalt them too high in their owne conceit, if they consider not with Trajan, Plin. in pane­gyr. Se non mi­nus hominem esse, quam ho­minibus prae es­se cogitet. that though they are above men, yet they are but men. Pliny the elder having related a strange story of a child, whose life was taken away by the snuffe of a candle, takes all the potentates of the earth to taske, and rings them a peale in their eare, saying, Plin. nat. hist. l. 7. c. 7. Tu qui te deum credis aliquo successu, tamen tan­ti perire po­tuisti, at (que) eti­amnum potes aut minoris, ut Anacreon acino uvae, & Fabius Praeto [...] in lactis haustu pilo. Thou which art so puffed up with the happy successe of some battell fought by thee, or some great fortune fallen unto thee, that thou takest thy selfe to bee a God, maist purchase thy death at as low a rate as this childe, or a lower, as Anacreon the Poet came to his end by a raisin stone, and Fabius the Pretor by a haire in his milke. No posture of the body seemeth more secure than sitting in a chaire, yet Judge Aug de civit. Dei, l. 22. c. 22. Quid videtur sedente securi­us? de sella ce­cidit Eli, & mortuus est. Ely fell out of his chaire, and brake his necke. Wherefore since Judges themselves are as subject to the lawes of humane frailty as other men, since [Page 112] for ought they know they are as neere death as the prisoner whom they have newly condemned to dye: let them look above them, not about them; let them feare God, not man; let them deliver nothing at the bench, which they are not assured in their consciences that they are able to make good before the Judge of quicke and dead, from whose face heaven and earth fled away, and their place could no where be found.

Judges may be considered either as of a particular circuit of the earth, and so they must receive instruction from the King or Lord of that land: or as Judges of the earth at large, and in that regard must take their Com­mission, and receive Instruction from the Lord of the whole earth, who requireth in his Judges,

• 1 Religion,
  Exod. 18.21.
  thou shalt provide out of all the people, able men, such as feare God.
• 2 Moderation,
  Gal. 6.1.
  to restore such as are overtaken in a fault, in the Spi­rit of meeknesse.
• 3 Learning and knowledge in the lawes, of which before.
• 4 Integrity, they must
  Num. 11.24.
  hate covetousnesse,
  Exod. 18.21. & Deut. 16.19.
  they may not take a gift, &c.
• 5 Indifferency, they
  Deut. 1.17.
  must not respect persons in judgement, but heare the small, &c.
• 6 Attention and diligent enquiry, they
  Deut. 1.16. & 13.14. & 19.18.
  must heare causes, and make search, &c.
• 7 Expedition,
  Zech. 7.9.
  to execute true judgement, and not delay justice.
• 8 Resolution and courage, not to
  Deut. 1.17.
  feare the face of man.
• 9 Equity, to
  Deut. 1.16. & Joh. 7.24.
  judge equally and righteously betweene every man and his brother.

• 1 Want of Religion makes a prophane Judge.
• 2 Want of Moderation an unmercifull Judge.
• 3 Want of Learning an unsufficient Judge.
• 4 Want of Integrity a corrupt Judge.
• 5 Want of Indifferency a partiall Judge.
• 6 Want of Attention a rash Judge.
• 7 Want of Expedition a tedious Judge.
• 8 Want of Resolution a timorous Judge.
• 9 Want of Equity an unrighteous Judge.
• Lastly, Want of any of these an Incompetent Judge, want of all these an unsufferable and execrable Judge.

1 Religion is required in a Judge, without which there will be no con­science of doing justice, where injustice may be borne out: and because e­ven religious men are subject to passion, to religion a Judge must adde

2 Moderation and governement of his passions: and because a man of temper, fit for a Judge, may mistake his marke, if he be not expert in the Law, to moderation he must adde

3 Learning and knowledge in the Law, according to which he is to give sentence: and because bribes blinde the Deut. 16.19. eyes of the wisest and learnedst Judges, to learning he must adde

[Page 113]4 Integritie and incorruption, a sincere heart, and cleere hands: and be­cause where bribes cannot open the hand, yet favour may enter at the eye, to his Integrity he must adde

5 Indifferencie, free from all kinde of partiality: and because a Judge, though never so religious, temperate, learned, incorrupt, and impartiall, cannot yet give right judgement without a full hearing and exact discussing of the cause before him, to indifferencie he must adde

6 Patient Attention, and diligent Deut. 19.18. inquisition: and because the plaintife or defendant are nothing benefited by the Judges hearing of, or searching into the cause, if after examination there follow not a sentence, to Attenti­tion he must adde

7 Expedition; for delayed justice oftentimes as much wrongeth the plaintife as injustice: and because after enquiry and hearing, though the Judge be expert and readie, yet judgement may be stopped if a great per­son appeare in the cause, to Expedition he must adde

8 Courage and Resolution: and because if a Judge strike too hard with the sword of justice he may breake it, as also because the sentence of the law may be just in generall, yet in regard of difference in circumstances may wring and wrong a man in particular, to all the former vertues a compleat Judge must adde

9 Levit. 19.15. In equity shalt thou judgethy neighbour. Equity and stayed discretion, which holdeth steedily the gold weights of justice, and addeth or taketh away a graine or more to make the piece and weight perfectly agree.

1. Religion. Alvares reporteth that the Aethiopians place many chaires about the Judges seat, not out of State, but out of Religion, supposing that their Gods fit there with their Judges. That which they suppose we cer­tainely know, that God and his Angels are present at the Assises, and that he judgeth among the Psal. 82.1.7. gods, that is, the Judges, or Princes. How reli­gious then ought Judges to be, who are Almighty Gods Assessours? So neere is the affinity betweene Justice and Religion, that as Priests are cal­led Judices sacrorum, Judges of Religion, and causes Ecclesiasticall; so Judges are by Ulpian stiled Sacerdotes justitiae, Priests of justice. And not on­ly the high Priests among the Jewes, but also the Archontes of the Atheni­ans, the Archiflamines and Cic prò domo suâ ad Ponti­fices. Cum mul­ta divinitus Pon [...]ifices a ma­joribus nostris in venta atque instituta sunt, tum nihil prae­clarius quam quod vos cos­dem, & religio­nibus deorum immortalium, & summae reipub­licae prae esse vo­luerunt. Pontifices of the Romanes, the Muphteyes of the Turkes, the Brameres of the Indians, the Druides of the ancient Brit­taines were trusted with Justice as well as Religion, and that for important considerations. For sith mortall men cannot prescribe against God, nor dis­pence with his commandements, sith the divine law is the supreme law to which lyeth an appeale from all humane statutes and ordinances; they who by their calling are Interpreters of that law, might well be thought fit Um­pires in all controversies concerning the equity of lawes, and conformity to the divine: especially in such points wherein the lawes trench upon holy things. But I list not in the heat of modern oppositions to drink of the waters of strife: let that question passe, whether sacred persons, expert in the divine law, are not fittest to judge in secular causes of greatest moment: this I am sure, Judges must be, if not in orders, yet eminently religious and skilfull in the law of God: for the judgement they are to give is Deut. 1.17. Gods. If a Judge be not religious, he will never be zealous for Gods honour, nor severely [Page 114] punish the breaches of the first Table. If a Judge feare not God, hee will feare the face of man, and flye backe when he should stand out for a poore innocent against a mighty adversary.

If a Judge make no account of giving one day an account of all his acti­ons to the supreme Judge of quicke and dead, hee will make no consscience of delaying justice, or denying it, or perverting it, or stifling it, or selling it. Justice shall be cast in her owne Court, and overthrowne upon her owne Tribunall. The Judge Cypr. l. 2. ep. 2. Inter leges delinquitur, in­ter jura pecca­tur, innocentia nec ubi defen­ditu [...] servabi­tur. Sen. de ira l. 2. Quam turpes lites, quam tur­piores advoca­tos habent? Ju­dex damnatu­rus quae fecit, eligitur: & coro­na pro mala causa, bona pa­troni voce cor­rupta. Lactan. divin. instit. l. 1. who sitteth on the bench to punish delinquents, will prove the greatest delinquent, and dye his dibaphum or bis tinctum, his twice died scarlet the third time with innocent blood. If a Judge depend upon the King, and not upon God, Seianus shall bee condemned to a most painefull and ignominious death, upon a bare letter from Tiberius, though no man know for what crime, or upon what evidence: nay a Pilate will condemne Jesus himselfe to be crucified, rather than not be thought a friend to Caesar. If a Judge be like Cardinall Caraffa, securus de numine, out of all feare of Gods vengeance, hee will make the law a snare, and justice a net, and the bench a step to his owne advancement: He will either like Hercules Priest, play with one hand for Hercules, and the other for himselfe: Or like Mazar. in Ps. 51. Ay­at the Jew, utraque manu tanquam dextra uti, take bribes on both sides, and doe Justice on neither.

2 A Judge must be a religious man, and none but such ought to be called to the bench, yet neither are all religious men fit to be Judges; for beside the feare of God and devotion in a Judge, there must be temper in him, and sin­gular moderation: he must be a Moses, Numb. 12.3. a very meek man above all the men that were upon the face of the earth: the mind of a Judge should be as still and calme as the upper region of the aire: ‘Perpetuum nullâ temeratum nube serenum.’

For it is impossible for him clearely to discerne betweene man and man, cause and cause, blood and blood, there being colourable pretences on both sides, whose eye is clouded with passion, or overcast with any mist of preju­dice. When the water is troubled, or mingled with mud, we see not a bright pearle or piece of silver in the bottom: in like maner when the mind is stir­red & troubled with perturbations, we cannot discerne the truth, which for the most part lyeth not in the top, but in the bottome, as it were, of a deepe Well, according to Democ. dixit veritatem in fundo demer­sam. Democritus his embleme. In this consideration the A­reopagite Judges prohibited Orators to play their Prizes of wit before them, or goe about any way by figures of amplification and exaggeration to move any affection in them, of love, or hatred, or feare, or anger, or en­vie, or pity. And Arist. Rhet. l. 1. c. 1 [...]. Aristotle yeeldeth a good reason for it; It is the part of an unskilfull and foolish artificer, saith he, to endevour to bow or crooke his owne rule whereby he is to work: Now the understanding of a Judge is, as it were, the rule & square by which all causes are to be tryed, and justice mett out. By indi­rect meanes then to pervert the minde of the Judge, and deprave his judge­ment, what is it else in an Advocate or Pleader, than to crook his owne square, and falsifie the common measure of right? Most certaine it is, that as meat ta­steth not a like to a cleere stomacke, and to a stomacke repleat with ill hu­mors, [Page 115] so that no matter in debate presents it selfe in the like hue to a single and cleer eye, and to a dazled or blood-shot. Let S. James give the Judges their Motto, Be swift to heare, slow to speak, slow to wrath. Vellaius Pater l. 1. hist. Quic­quid voluit valde voluit Brutus, nimium Cassius. Brutus would have made an ill judge, who was affianced to his owne will: and Cassius a worse, who was wedded to it: and Herod worst of all, of whom Josephus giveth this character, that he was Legis dominus, irae servus, Lord of the law, yet a slave to his owne passion. It is no strong piece that will easily bee out of frame: frame therefore and temper must needs be in a Judge; yet this will not serve without a great measure of

3 Knowledge and learning in lawes,

• 1 Divine.
• 2 Humane.

As also in causes

• 1 Ecclesiasticall.
• 2 Secular: of which before.

• 1 Civill.
• 1 Municipall.

4 Integrity. Probè doctus est qui probus est, he is intirely learned who to his learning hath added integrity. Learning teacheth what is wrong as well as what is right, and without integrity instructeth a Judge how to make wrong passe for right in a legall forme. If a Judges eye be open to favour, or his hand to gifts, his learning will serve him to no other end, than cun­ningly to divert the streight current, to bring water to his own Mill. He that opens his hand to catch after a great reward, cannot chuse but let fall his rule out of it. In which regard the Rainold. com. in Rhet. Arist. l. 1. Thebanes pourtraying a Judge, drew a venerable personage in a sacred habite, fitting still in a chaire, having nei­ther eyes nor hands; his sacred habit represented his religion, his venera­ble yeeres, his learning and experience; his still sitting, his moderation; his eyes out, his indifferency or impartiality; his want of hands, his integrity or freedome from taking bribes. Mazar. com. in Psal. 51. Mazarinus complaineth of the Judges be­yond the sea (and there let them still bee) that they resembled the blood-stone, which hath a speciall property to stanch blood, yet it is observed by Jewellers, that it never exerciseth this vertue, nor stancheth blood, unlesse it be set in, or covered over with silver, and so applyed to the veine. How true this is I know not, but sure I am that those who use a silver plummet draw blacke lines. When Demosthenes, having received a large fee of the adverse party to be silent in a cause, and being called to plead pretended the Squin­sie, his clyent handsomely came over him, saying, [...], non est ista angina, sed argentangina. I could match such an Advocate with a like Judge in Poland called Ictus, who a long time stood for a poore plain­tife against a rich defendant, in the end took of the defendant a great summe of mony, stamped according to the usuall stampe of the countrey, with the Image of a man in complete armour, and at the next Sessions in court jud­ged the cause in favour of the defendant: and being taxed for it by his friends in private, shewing them the coyn he received, demanded of them, quis possit tot armatis resistere? who were able to stand against so many in com­plete armour? Steele armour is bullet or musket proofe, but nothing except the feare of God is gold or silver proofe. Nothing can keepe a Judge from receiving a reward in private, in a colourable cause, but the eye of the Al­mighty, who seeth the corrupt Judge in secret, and will reward him open­ly, if not in his lower Courts on earth, yet in his high Court of Star-cham­ber in heaven.

[Page 116]5 All corruption is not in bribes; hee who for hope of advancement or for favour, or for any by-respect whatsoever perverteth judgement, is not cleere from corruption, though his hands be cleane. The Judges who ab­solved the beautifull strumpet Phryne, had their hands cleane, but their eyes foule. The Judges who absolved Murena, that by indirect meanes purcha­sed the Consulship of Rome, are not taxed for taking any bribe from him, yet was their judgment corrupt, because that which swayed them in judgment was not the innocency of Murena, but his modest carriage, together with his sickness then upon him, moving them unto compassion. An upright Judge must in a morall sense be like Melchisedek, without Father or Mother, kiffe or kin; I meane in justice hee must take no notice of any affinity or consan­guinity, friendship or favour, or any thing else, save the merits of the cause; to which

6 Hee must give a full hearing: for otherwise the Poet will tell him, that Sen. in med. Qui aliquid statuit parte in­auditá alterá, aequum licet statuerit, baud aequus est. though the sentence he gives may be just, yet he cannot be just. The eare is not only the sense of discipline or learning, as the Philosopher spea­keth, but of faith also, as the Apostle teacheth, yea and of truth also and ju­stice. Though a Judge need not with Philip stop one of his eares while the accuser is speaking; yet ought he alwayes to reserve an eare for the defen­dant, and according to the ancient decree of the Areopagites, Demost. orat. de coron. [...]. heare both parties with like attention and indifferency their full time. Albeit our Lord and Saviour knew the hearts of men, which no earthly Judge can; yet to prescribe a rule to all Judges, hee professeth, sicut audio sic judico; Joh. 5.30. as I heare so I judge. Never any Romane Emperour was so much censured with injustice and folly as Sueton. in Claud. Claudius Caesar, and the reason why hee so oft mistooke, was, because hee often sentenced causes upon the hearing of one side only, and somtimes upon the full hearing of neither. But of hearing you heare every day, not onely the Preachers at the Assizes, but the Counsell on both parts call upon you for it: I would you heard as oft of that which I am to touch in the next place (without which hearing is to no purpose:)

7 Expedition. If the time had not prevented me, I would have long insi­sted upon the prolonging of suits in all Courts of justice. For a man can come into none of them but hee shall heare many crying with him in the Poet, Quem das finem Rex magne laborum? When shall we leave turning Ixions wheele, and rowling Sisyphus stone? O that we had an end either way! long delayed justice often more wrongeth both parties, than injustice either. I am not ignorant of the colourable pretence wherewith many excuse these de­layes, affirming that questions in law are like the heads of Hydra, when you cut off one there arise up two in the place of it: which if it were so, as it ar­gueth a great imperfection in our laws, which they who are best able make no more haste to supply, than beggars to heale the raw flesh; because these gaine by such defects, as they by shewing their sores: so it no way ex­cuseth the protraction of the ordinary suits, disputes, and demurres, in which there is no more true controversie in point of law, than head in a sea-crab.

8 Of courage and resolution I shall need to adde nothing to what hath beene spoken, because the edge of your sword of justice hath a strong backe, the authority of a most religious and righteous Prince, under whom [Page 117] you need not feare to doe justice, but rather not to execute justice upon the most potent delinquent.

9 There remaines nothing but Equity to crowne all your other vertues, which differeth but little from moderation above enforced; for moderati­on is equity in the minde, as equity is moderation in the sentence. Bee not over just, saith Eccl. 7.16. Solomon, but moderate thy justice with equity, and miti­gate it with mercy, for summum jus est summa injuria; justice without mer­cy is extreme cruelty, and mercy without justice is foolish pity; both to­gether make Christian equity. Therfore these two vertues resemble Castor and Pollux, which if either alone appeare on the mast, is ominous, but both together promise a prosperous voyage: or like the metals, which are so termed, quia [...], because the veynes succeed one the other: after the veyne of one metall you fall upon the veyne of another: so in scripture you shall finde a sequence of these vertues, as in the Pro­phet Micah, Micah 6.8. Hee hath shewed thee O man what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to doe justly, and love mercy? and in Ze­chary, Zech. 7.9. Execute true judgement, and shew mercy and compassion every man to his brother: and in Solomon, Pro. 21.21. Hee that followeth after righteousnesse and mercy, findeth life, righteousnesse, and honour.

To gather then up at length the scattered links of my discourse, to make a golden chaine for your neckes, Be instructed O ye Judges of the earth, ei­ther Judges made of earth, earthly men, or made Judges of the earth, that is, controversies about lands, tenures, and other earthly and temporall cau­ses, serve the Lord of heaven in feare, and rejoice unto him with trembling, bee religious in your devotion, moderate in your passions, learned in the lawes, incorrupt in your courts, impartiall in your affections, patient in hearing, expedite in proceeding, resolute in your sentence, and righteous in judgement and execution: So when the righteous Judge shall set his tribu­nall in the clouds, and the unrighteous Judge, as being most contrary to him, shall receive the heaviest doome; ye that are righteous Judges, as be­ing likest to him, shall receive a correspondent reward, and bee taken from sitting upon benches on earth, to be his Assessours on his throne in heaven: To whom, &c.

THE APOSTOLICK BISHOP. A Sermon preached at the Consecration of the L. B. of Bristow, before his Grace, and the Lord Keeper of the Great Seale, and divers other Lords Spirituall and Temporall, and other persons of eminent quality, in Lambeth Chappell. A.D. 1622. March 23. THE TENTH SERMON.

A Diamond is not cut but by the point of a Diamond, nor the sunne-beame discerned but by the light of the beame, nor the understanding faculty of the soule apprehended but by the faculty of understanding, nor can the receiving of the holy Ghost bee conceived or delivered, without receiving in some Aug tract. 16. in Joh. Adsit ipse spiritus, ut sic eloqui pos­simus. degree that ho­liest Spirit. Ci [...] de mat. Qui eloquenti­am laudat, de­bet illam ipsam adhibere quam l [...]dat. Hee that will blazon the armes of the Queen of affections, Eloquence, must borrow her own pencill and colours: nor may any undertake to expound this text, and declare the power of this gift here mentioned, but by the gift of this power. Wherefore as in the interpretation of other inspired Scriptures, wee are humbly to intreat the assistance of the Inspirer, so more especially in the explication and ap­plication of this, which is not onely effectivè à spiritu, but also objectivè de spiritu, not onely indited and penned (as all other) by the spirit, but also of the spirit. This of all other is a most mysterious text, which being rightly understood, and pressed home, will not only remove the weaker fence be­tweene us and the Greeke Church, touching the procession of the Holy [Page 123] Ghost from the Sonne; but also beat downe and demolish the strong and high partition wall betweene the reformed and the Romane Church, built upon S. Peters supremacy. For if Christ therefore used the Ceremony of breathing upon his Apostles, with this forme of words, Receive yee the Holy Ghost, as it were of set purpose, visibly to represent the proceeding of the holy Spirit from himselfe, why should not the Greeke Church ac­knowledge with us, the eternall emanation of the holy Ghost from the Sonne as well as the Father? and acknowledging it, joyne with us in the fellowship of the same spirit? Our difference and contestation with the Church of Rome in point of S. Peters primacy, is far greater I confesse. For the head of all controversies between us and them, is the controversie con­cerning the head of the Church. Yet even this, how involved soever they make it, may be resolved by this text alone. For if Christ sent all his Apo­stles, as his Father sent him, if he breathed indifferently upon all, if he gave his spirit, and with it full power of remittting and retaining sinnes to them all, then is there no ground here for S. Peters jurisdiction over the rest, much lesse the Popes: and if none here, none elsewhere, as the sequell will shew. For howsoever Cajetan and Hart, and some few Papists, by jingling Saint Peters Mat. 16.19. Keyes, and distinguishing of a key,

• 1 Of knowledge,
• 2 Of power: and this,
  • 1 Of order,
  • 2 Of jurisdiction: and that,
    • 1 In foro exteriori, the outward court,
    • 2 Foro interiori, the inward court of conscience;

goe about to confound the harmony of the Evangelists, who set all the same tune, but to a different key: yet this is confessed on all sides by the Fathers, Hilary, Jerome, Austine, Anselme; and by the Schoole-men, Lum­bard, Aquinas, Allensis, and Scotus, alledged by Cardinall Bellar. de Rom. pont. l. 1. c. 12. Bellarmine, that what Christ promised to Peter, Mat. 16. he performed and made good to him here; but here the whole Hieronymus adver. Lucifer. Cuncti claves accipiunt, & su­per omnes ex aequô ecclesiae fortitudo soli­datur. bunch of keyes is offered to all the Apostles, and all of them receive them, all are joyned with S. Peter as well in the mission (as my Father sent mee, so I send you) as in the Commission.

Lastly, as this text containes a soveraigne Antidote against the infection of later heresies, so also against the poyson of the more ancient and farther spread impieties of Arrius and Macedonius, whereof the one denyed the di­vinity and eternity of the Sonne, the other of the holy Ghost, both whose damnable assertions are confuted by consequence from this text. For if Christ by breathing giveth the holy Ghost, and by giving the holy Ghost power of remitting sinne, then must Christ needs bee God; for who but God can give or send a divine person? The holy Ghost also from hence is proved to be God, for who can Mar. 2.7. or Esay 43.25. forgive sinnes but God alone?

So much is our faith indebted to this Scripture; yet our calling is much more: for what can bee spoken more honourably of the sacred function of Bishops and Priests, than that the investiture and admittance into it, is the receiving of the holy Ghost? Primum in u­noquo (que) gene­re, est mensura & regula caete­rorum. The first action in every kind of this nature, is a president to all the rest, as all the furniture of the Ceremoniall law was [Page 124] made according to the first patterne in the Mount, such is this consecration in my text, the originall and patterne of all other, wherein these particulars invite your religious attention:

• 1 The person consecrating, Christ the chiefe Bishop of our soules.
• 2 The persons consecrated, The Apostles the prime Pastours of the Church.
• 3 The holy action it selfe, set forth
  • 1 With a mysterious rite, he breathed on them:
  • 2 A sanctified forme of words, receive ye the holy Ghost.

1 First, for the person consecrating. All Bishops are consecrated by him originally, to whom they are consecrated: all Priests are ordained by him to whom they are ordained Priests; the power which they are to employ for him, they receive from him, to whom Matth. 28.18. all power is given both in heaven and in earth. By vertue of which deed of gift, he maketh Matth. 10.2. choice of his mi­nisters, and hee sendeth them with authority, J [...]h. 20.21. as my Father sent me, so I send you: And hee furnisheth them with gifts, saying, receive yee the holy Ghost; and enableth them with a double power; of order, to Matth. 28.19. Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Sonne, and of the holy Ghost. & 1 Cor. 11.24. This do in the re­membrance of me. preach and administer both the sacraments; and of jurisdiction also ( Matth. 18.18.) Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall bee bound in hea­ven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shallbe loosed in heaven. And that this sacred order is to continue in the Church, and this spirituall power in this order, even till Christ resigneth up his keyes and kingdome to God his Father, S. Paul assureth us ( Eph. 4.10.11.12.) Hee that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things, and he gave some Apostles, some Prophets, some Evangelists, some Pastours and Teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the worke of the Ministe­ry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Ver. 12. Till wee all come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Sonne of God, unto a perfect man, un­to the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ. Till all the Elect be come God ceaseth not to call by the ministery of the word, and none may call without a calling to call. Needs must there be therefore a settled order in the Church, for the calling of those to the ministery of the word & sacra­ments, who are to call others by their ministery. This constant ordination of a succession in the Church, some make a royalty of Christ, or an appen­dant to his princely function; for it is for Kings to set men in authority un­der them in the affaires of the Kingdome. Others annexe it to his priest­hood, because the high Priest was to consecrate inferiour Priests. A third sort will have it a branch of his propheticall office, because Prophets were to anoint Prophets. All these reasons are concludent, but none of them ex­cludent. For the entire truth, in which these three opinions have an equall share is, that the establishing the ministery of the Gospell, and furnishing the Church with able Pastours, hath a dependance on all three offices:

• 1 On the Kingly, in respect of heavenly power.
• 2 On the Priestly, in respect of sacred order.
• 3 On the Propheticall, in respect of ministeriall gifts.

[Page 121] Each of Christs offices deliver into our hands as it were a key:

• 1. Clavem Coeli.
• 2. Clavem Sanctuarii, or Templi.
• 3. Clavem sacrae Scripturae.

• 1. His Kingly office conferreth on us the key of heaven, to open and shut it.
• 2. His Priestly, the key of the Temple, to enter into it and ad­minister holy things.
• 3. His Propheticall, the key of holy Scripture, to open the meaning thereof.

Thus you see ordinem ordinis, an order for holy orders; you heare who is the founder of our religious order, and whose keyes we keepe. Which consideration, as it much improveth the dignity of our calling, so it repro­veth their indignity who walke not agreeable thereunto. A scar in the face is a greater deformity than a wound or sore in any other part of the body: such is the eminency of our calling, beloved brethren, that our spots can no more be hid than the spots in the Moone: nay, that it maketh every spot in us a staine, every blemish a scar, every pricke a wound, every drop of Inke a blot, every trip a fall, every fault a crime. If we defile Christs priesthood with an impure life, we do worse than those his professed ene­mies who spit on his face. If we foule and black with giving and receiving the wages of unrighteousnes those hands wherwith we deliver the price of mans redemption in the blessed Sacraments, we more wrong our Saviour than those who pierced his sacred hands with nailes. If we in these holy Mounts of God, wherein we should presse the purest liquor out of the grapes of the Vines of Engaddi, vent our owne spleene and malice; what doe we else than offer to Christ againe vinegar and gall? If we Christs meniall and do­mesticall servants turne Rom. 12.11. [...] into [...], as some copies mis-read, and serve the time instead of serving the Lord. If we preach our selves, and not Christ crucified; if we beare the world in hand to wooe for our master, but indeed speake for our selves; if we use the staires of the Pulpit as steps only to our preferment; if we heare our Lord and Master highly dishonoured, and dis­semble it; if we see the Sea of Rome continually to eat into the bankes of our Church, and never goe about to make up the breaches; if that should e­ver fall out which a sweet sounding Cymball sometimes tinckled into the eares of the Pope, that Bernard. de considerat. ad Eu­gen. Multi ne­cessarii, multi adversarii, non Doctores, sed Seductores; non Praelati, sed Pi­lati. the greatest enemies of Christ should be those of his owne house; if Pastours turne Impostours, if Doctours Seductours, if Prelates Pilates, if Ministers of Christ servants of Antichrist, either by silence to give way, or by smoothing Romish tenets to make way for Popery; no marvaile then if judgement begin at the house of God, as it did in the siege at Jerusalem with the slaughter of Ananus the high Priest: no marvaile if God suffer sacriledge to rob the Church of her maintenance almost in all places, when the Church her selfe is guilty of worse sacriledge, by robbing God of his worship and service. But on the contrarie, if as Ambassadours for Christ, we deliver our message faithfully and roundly; if we seeke not our owne, but the things that are Jesus Christs; if we esteeme not our pre­ferments, [Page 122] no nor our lives deere unto us in comparison of our Masters ho­nour; if we preach Christ crucified in our lives, as well as in our sermons; if in our good name we are the sweet smelling favour of God, as well as in our doctrine, we may then, Christi nomine, in Christs stead challenge audience, yea, and reverence too from the greatest powers upon earth, (whatsoever State-flies buzze to the contrary.) For as he that Luke 10.16. despiseth Christs mini­sters despiseth him, so he that Mat. 10.40. receiveth him receiveth them also. No man who honoureth the Prince can dis-esteeme his Ambassadours. If Scribes and Pharisees must be heard because they teach in Moses chaire, how much more, Saith St. Chrysostome, may they command our attention who sit in Christs chaire? The same Apostle who chargeth every soule to be Rom. 13.1.4. subject to the higher powers, who beare not the sword in vaine, as strictly requireth the faithfull to Heb. 13.17. obey them that have the rule over them in the Lord, and submit unto them: for they watch, saith he, for your soules, as they that must give ac­count, that they may doe it with joy, and not with griefe; for that is unprofita­ble for you. Therefore Sym. epist. ad Anast. Defer Deo in nobis, nos Deo in te. Symmachus kept within compasse, when he thus spake to Anastasius the Emperour; Acknowledge God in us, and we will ac­knowledge him in thee. Deus est in utroque parente, we hold from Christ as you from God, as we submit ourselves to Gods sword in your hands, so you ought to obey Christs word in our mouthes. And so I passe from the person con­secrating to the persons consecrated.

He breathed on them, and said, receive ye the holy Ghost.

The holy Martyr St. Cypr. de unita. Eccles. Aposto­lis omnibus post resurrecti­onem suam pa­rem potesta­tem tribuit, & dicit, sicut misit me pater & ego mitto vos, acci­pite Spiritum sanctum: si cui remiseritis pec­cata, remitten­tur ei &c. Hoc e [...]antutique caeteri Apostoli quod fuit Pe­trus; pari con­sortio praediti, & honoris, & pote­statis. Cyprian makes an inference from these words, for which the Popes have looked awry upon him ever since. The inference is this; Christ after his resurrection gave all his Apostles equall power, saying, as my father sent me, so I send you, receive ye the holy Ghost: whose sinnes yee remit, they are remitted. Here lest any addicted to the Papacy might thrust upon the Martyrs words this meaning, that Christ gave all the Apostles equall authority among themselves, but not equall to Peter their head, he addeth, the rest of the Apostles were the same that Peter was, admitted into an equall fellowship both of honour and power. Marke I beseech you, the Martyr speakes here not of a priviledge or singularitie, but a society, (consortio;) not a superiority, but a parity, (pari;) and this parity both in honour, (ho­noris;) and of power also, (potestatis:) where there is a parity in honour there can be no preheminencie; where there is a parity in power there can be no supremacy. Where then will our Adversaries fasten? Upon those words of Christ, Mat. 16.18. Thou art Peter, and upon this rocke will I build my Church? St. Austin beats them off this hold, expounding the rocke of Christ, not of Peter, thus, Upon me I August. in haec verba, Super me aedificabo te, non super te ae­dificabo me. will build thee, not me upon thee. Yet if we should leave it them, the building upon Peter, or laying him in the foundation of the Church, will no more make him the supreme head of the Church than the rest of the Apostles; for we read of Apoc. 21.14. And the wall of the Citie had 12. foundations, and in them the names of the 12. Apostles of the Lambe. & twelve foundations up­on which the heavenly Jerusalem is built, on which the names of the twelve Apostles were engraven, and of more also: now therefore, saith he, ye are no more strangers and forreiners, but fellow Citizens with the Saints, and of the houshold of God; and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and E [...]hes. 2. [...]0. Of more. Prophets. From whence Saint Jer adver. Lu­cifer. Super om­nes ex aequo Ecclesiae forti­tudo solidatur. Jerome inferreth, that the strength of the Church is solidly founded, and equally built upon all the Apostles.

Will they fasten upon the promise made to Peter, (Mat. 16.19.) what­soever thou shalt binde on earth shall be bound in heaven: these words might carry some shew of a priviledge granted to S. Peter, if S. Matthew, and the other Apostles were not joyned in Patent with him; Mat. 18.18. whatsoever yee shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and Joh. 20.23. whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them. The last refuge to which our adversaries flye, is that text, Joh. 21.15. Feede my lambs, feede my sheep. Which charge of our Saviours makes nothing for Peters supremacy, Peter himselfe being Interpreter; for what Christ gives him he gives all Elders in charge, Pet. 5.2. Feed the flocke of God which is among you. If feede my sheepe make Peter an oecumenicall Pastor, then feede the flocke of Christ, spoken in like manner to all Elders makes them oecumenicall Pastors. If the word (pasce) when it is spoken to Peter signi­fies rule as a Monarch, then (pascite) feede yee, spoken by S. Peter to El­ders must likewise bee interpreted, rule yee over the Flocke of God, and Church of Christ as Monarchs. For as Cic. orat. pro Cecinna. Nun­quam obtine­bis ubi tu volu­eris verba inter­dicti valere o­portere, ubi tu nolueris non o­portere. Tully spake to Ebutius, so may I say to Bellarmine, you shall never perswade any man of understanding that words must signifie what you will have them, and conclude nothing but what you will inferre from them; that the word pasce or feede, when it serveth your purpose must be taken for to beare rule over the whole Church; and when it serveth not, then it must signifie nothing but teach, as every Pastor doth. Had the Apostles so understood the words of our Saviour to Saint Pe­ter, Upon this rocke will I build my house, and, To thee I will give the keyes of the Kingdome of heaven, as the Church of Rome at this day doth, (viz.) I will appoint thee Head of all the Apostles, and visible Monarch of the Church, and infallible Judge of all controversies; they would never have contended, as they did afterwards, Luk. 20.24. which of them should bee counted greatest; they would never have taken upon them to send him Act. 8.14. Now when the Apostles which were at Je­rusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John. with John. It is not the manner of Subjects to send their Soveraignes in Embassages or messages, much lesse joyne any other of their Subjects in equall commissi­on with them, as the Apostles doe John with Peter. Had the Church in the Apostles time understood that our Saviour by that charge, Pasce oves meas, Feed my sheep, made Peter universall Pastor of the whole world; and by his prayer for him, that his Faith might not faile priviledged him from all possibility of errour; they would have rested upon his resolution in the first Act. 15.11. Synode. Saint James would never have presumed to speake after him in the great point which was then in controversie; nor have added a distinct Head or Canon of his owne, That the Gentiles should abstaine from polluti­on of Idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from bloud. The Apostolicall letter should have beene indorsed, not as it was, The A­postles, and Elders, and Brethren, but, Peter, Christs Vicar, and Monarch of the Church, and the Apostles his Counsellours; or after the like manner. Had Saint Paul beleeved Saint Peter to be Head of the Church, he would never have Gal. 2.11. withstood him to the face, as hee did at Antioch, much lesse have stood upon even tearmes with him as he doth, saying, 2 Cor. 12.11. In nothing am I behinde the very chiefest Apostles: and, Gal. 2.6. they who seemed to be pillars added nothing to mee: and ver. 7. the Gospell of the uncircumcision was committed to mee, as the Gospell of the circumcision was to Peter. If any mans eyes are so dazeled with the lustre of the Popes triple Crowne, that hee cannot see [Page 124] Pauls equality to Peter in the letter of the text; yet hee cannot but see it in the Fathers Commentaries. Ambros. in comment. 2 Cor. 12. Hoc dicit quia non est minor ne (que) in praedicatione, ne (que) in signis faciendis, nec dignitate, sed tempore. Chry. in 2 Cor. 12.11. [...]. The Apostle speaketh on this wise, saith Saint Ambrose, that or because, he is not inferiour to the chiefe Apostles, neither in preaching, nor in working miracles, nor in dignity, but in time. Saint Chry­sostome acutely observeth, that the Apostle redoubleth his forces, and not content with that hee had said before in 2 Cor. 11.5. I suppose I was not a whit behinde the very chiefest Apostles; he addeth in the Chapter following with more confidence and authority, In nothing am I behinde the very chiefest Apostles, though I be nothing. What? not inferiour to Saint Pe­ter? no not Saint Peter (for so it followeth in Saint Chrysostome) he sheweth himselfe to be equall in dignity to the rest; and he Chrys. in Gal. 2. v. 8. [...]. compareth himselfe not to other of the Apostles but to the chiefe, shewing that he was of equall ranke with him. See, saith Occumen. in Gal. 2. [...]. Oecumenius, how he equalizeth himselfe to Peter, or sets himselfe upon even ground with him. These were Fathers of the Greeke Church: what will our adversaries say if Leo serm. de laud. Petri & Pauli. De quo­rum meritis & virtutibus quae omnem superāt dicendi facul­tatem, nihil di­versum sentire debemus, nihil discretum, quos & electio pa­res, & labor si­miles, & mors fecit aequales. Leo Bishop of Rome, who ex­tolled Peter above the skies, and admitteth him after a sort into the fellow­ship of the individuall Trinity, yet maketh Saint Paul his match, saying, Let no man cast a golden apple of contention betweene these glorious instru­ments of Christs Gospell Peter and Paul, of whose merits and vertues, which exceed all faculties of speech, or can never bee sufficiently commended, wee ought to thinke nothing divers, or put no difference at all in any respect be­tweene them; whose calling to the Apostleship made them equall, and their travell in their office like, and their martyrdome parallel? Saint Paul then in Leo his judgement may goe everywhere hand in hand with Peter; and in very deed hee hath the hand of him in the Popes seale, which putteth Bellarmine to much trouble, and great feare, lest Saint Paul should bee ta­ken to bee the better man of the two, because in the Popes seale, which confirmeth all his Buls, and unerring Decrees ex cathedra, Saint Paul hath the right hand, and Saint Peter the left. But hee may set his heart at rest, for no Protestant goeth about to set Saint Peter below Saint Paul, or any other Apostle: all that wee contend for among the Apostles is but for a parity: a parity there may bee in the Apostolicall power and function, and yet Peter have some preheminency in respect of his yeeres or gifts; such a primacy may be granted him without any power or jurisdiction over the rest: some power hee might have over the rest, and bee a kinde of Presi­dent in the Apostles Colledge, yet not Christs Vicar generall, or Head of the whole Church: Head hee might bee of the Church in some sense, yet his Headship, as his Apostleship, dye with him, and not descend upon his successors: descend it might upon his successors, to wit, upon his undoub­ted successors in Antiochia, & not be appropriated to his questionable suc­cessors at Rome: lastly, it might be after a sort entayled to his successors at Rome, yet with a qualification, to all his lawfull successors, not to usurpers: to men, as Linus; not to women, as Pope Joane; to Catholickes, as Saint Gregory and Damasus, and all the Popes for 300. yeeres; not Heretickes, as Liberius and Honorius, and many of the latter: to such as entred canoni­cally, as Cornelius and Stephanus, and the ancient Popes generally; not such as thrust themselves into that See, and purchased the Papacy either by art Magicke, as Sylvester the second; or by an imposture as Hildebrand; or si­mony [Page 125] and faction, as almost all since. Lastly, upon Apostolicall men in life and doctrine, not apostaticall or apotacticall, as those fifty Popes rec­koned by Genebrard (his Holinesses Chronicler) one after another. By all which particulars seriously considered, Urban his supremacy derived from Saint Peter, appeareth to be a rope of sand, or a castle of Table-men piled one upon another without any thing to hold them together, which fall allasunder with a fillep; or an old ruinous paire of staires, the ground­cell or foot whereof, viz. Peters superiority to the rest of the Apostles, is not sure, and all the consequences deduced from thence, like staires built upon it, are all rotten: and therefore I will stand no longer upon them, but leape into my third and last part, The manner of the Apostles consecrati­on: and first of the mysterious rite,

Hee breathed. The truth and substance Christ himselfe, who put an end to all legall shadowes, commanding all to worship God in Spirit and truth, ordained notwithstanding mysterious rites in the Sacraments of the new Testament, and used visible and significant gestures in his miraculous cures: he gave sight to the blinde, not without touching the eye; and hearing to the deafe, not without thrusting his finger into the eare; and speech to the dumb, not without wetting the tongue: he fetched not Lazarus breath back againe, without fetching a deepe sigh; nor inspired his Disciples with the holy Ghost, without breathing upon them. Gestures Cic. de orat. l. 3. Gestus est ser­mo quidam corporis. in religious actions are as significant, and more moving than words. Decent Ceremonies in the substantiall worship of God are like shadowing in a picture, which if it bee too much (as we see in the Church of Rome) it darkeneth the picture, and obscureth the face of devotion; but if convenient, and in fit places, it giveth grace and beauty to it. Superstition may be, and is as properly in such, who put Religion in not using, as in those who put Religion in using things in their owne nature meerely indifferent. Christian liberty is in­differently abridged by both these errours about things indifferent. And as a man may be proud even of the hatred of pride, and contempt of great­nesse; so he may be superstitious in a causlesse feare, and heady declining of that which seemes, but is not superstitious. Which is the case of some refined Reformers (as they would bee thought) who according to their name of Precisians, ungues ad vivum resecant, pare the nailes of pretended Romish rites in our Church so neere, that they make her fingers bleede. For feare of monuments of Idolatry, all ornaments of the Church (if they might have their will) should be taken away: for feare of praying for the dead, they will not allow any prayer to be said for the living at the buriall of the dead: for feare of bread-worship, they will not kneele at the Com­munion: for feare of invocating the Saints deceased, they will not brooke any speech of the deceased in a funerall Sermon: for feare of making matri­mony a Sacrament, they will have it no sacred rite, but a meere civill joy­ning the parties contracted in the congregation, not by the hand of the Mi­nisters of God, but by the hand of their laye Elders or Borgomasters: for feare of overlaying the Queenes vesture with rich laces of ceremonies, they rip them off all, cut off the fringe, and pare off the nappe also. But because the Spouse of Christ (as things now stand) is more afraid of losing her coat than of her lace or fringe, I leave these men, as unworthy upon whom [Page 126] more breath should be spent; and come to the particular rite or ceremony of breathing used by our Saviour.

Hee breathed on them. Here every Interpreter aboundeth in his owne sense: Barrad. in E­vang. Flatus domini pote­statem quam dabat remit­tendi peccata adumbrabat; ut enim flatu nu­bes to [...]o aere pelluntur, sic flatu domini, id est, Spiritu san­cto peccatorum nubes disper­guntur; juxta illud Esa. 44. de­levisti ut nubes iniquitates nostras. Barradius his sense is, that this breathing shadowed forth the ghost­ly power of remitting of sinnes, which Christ gave to his Apostles. For as by a blast of wind clouds are driven out of the aire; so by the blast of God, that is the holy Spirit, the clouds of our sinnes are dispersed; according to the words of the Prophet Esay, cap. 44.22. I have blotted out as a thicke cloud thy transgressions. Maldonat. in Johan. Christus per insufflatio­nem declarare voluitipsam Spiritus sancti naturam, est e­nim veluti fla­tus patris & fi­lii. Maldonate his sense is, that Christ by this visible ceremony of breathing declared the nature of the holy Ghost, who is the breath of the Father and the Sunne. Musculus in Johan. Commo­dè Spiritum per flatum dedit, cum illis mune­ris Apostolici potestatem da­ret, pendebat enim illa a ver­bis oris ipsius. Musculus his sense is, that Christ fitly used the ceremony of breathing, when he invested the Apostles into their function, because it hath a dependance upon the words of his mouth; be­cause it is a power of the word, it was therefore given by breathing on them. Calvin. harm. Cumarcana in­spiratione pos­set Christus gratiam con­ferre Aposto­lis, visibilem flatum addere voluit ad eos melins confir­mandos: sym­bolum autem sumpsit à vul­gari S.S. more qui Spiritum confert vento. Calvin his sense is, that Christ added this ceremony of outward breathing upon them, to confirme their faith in the inward inspiration: the symbole or signe hee tooke from the common custome of the Scripture, which compareth the spirit to winde. Athana. in Joh. In sufflan­do dedit ani­mam quae est principium vi­tae naturalis, & Spiritum qui est principium vi­tae spiritualis, ut idem quicre­ator agnoscere­tur renovator. Athanasius his sense is, that as God in the creation of man breathed into him his soule, which is the be­ginning or principle of the naturall life; so Christ here breathed into the Disciples his spirit, which is the beginning or principle of the spirituall life; that wee might know that the same God who is the author of the na­turall life, is also the author of the life of grace; and that hee who first cre­ated the spirit of man, reneweth all the faithfull in the spirit of their mindes. But the most naturall, genuine, and generally approved reason and inter­pretation of this rite and ceremony is that which is given by Saint Au­stine and Saint Cyrill (viz.) that Christ by breathing on his Apostles, when he gave them the holy Ghost, signified that the person of the holy Ghost proceeded from him, as that breath came out of his mouth. For although Theophylact infected with the present errour of the Greek Church, jeareth at this interpretation, yet neither doth hee, nor can hee give so apt and fit a one: and in this regard Cardinall Bellarmine justly taketh him up for sleighting the judgement of two of the greatest pillars of the Church. Ve­rely, saith he, Theophylact is to be jeared at by all of the Latine Church, if hee flout at Saint Austine: and of the Greeke Church also if hee flout at Saint Cyril: for what interpretation so naturall, what reason so proper can be given of coupling this ceremony with the words, Receive yee the Holy Ghost? that is giving the holy Ghost by breathing, as this, that the holy Spirit proceedeth from his person. And so I passe from the mysterious rite of breathing, to the sanctified forme of words.

Receive yee the holy Ghost. Not the person nor the substance of the holy Ghost; for that errour the Master of the sentences was long agoe whipt by his schollars. Sanctified the Apostles were by receiving the Spirit, but not deified. What then received they at this time? some gift of the holy Ghost? that takes not away the doubt but makes it; untieth not the knot but fasteneth it rather. For as Pythagoras, when the question of marriage was put to him in his flourishing age, answered, [...] not yet; when in his decaying and withering age, hee replyed, [...] not now: so if the question [Page 127] be of the ordinary gifts of the holy Ghost, it may be said, [...], the Apo­stles were not now to receive them, because at their first calling they were seasoned with that heavenly liquor. But if the question be of the extraor­dinary gifts of the holy Ghost, or a fuller measure of the ordinary, it may be replied, [...], they were not as yet to receive them. For Christ Joh. 16.7. must first ascend before he send the holy Ghost. To take this pearle out of the eye of my text, many medicines have beene applyed. Theodoret thus offereth to remove it, Our Saviour (Joh. 16.7.) said not that hee would not give the holy Ghost before his ascension, but that he would not send him before; at this time (saith that Father) Christ gave the holy Ghost secretly, with grace; but then he sent him in a visible shape with power. Calvin in Joh. Sic datus fuit Apostolis spiri­tus hoc loco, ut respersi fuerint duntaxat ejus gratia, non ple­na virtute im­buti. Calvin helpeth it with a di­stinction of the receiving the holy Ghost in different degrees; now the Spi­rit was but sprinkled, as it were, upon them; but in the day of Pentecost it was powred out on them: now they were gently breathed on, and refreshed as it were with a small gale; then they were all blowne upon, as it were with a mighty winde. Chrys. in Joh. [...]. Saint Chrysostome thus expedites the difficulty; some say that Christ gave not the holy Ghost at this time, but that by his breathing on his Apostles, he made them capable, or fit to receive him; but wee may safely goe farther, and say, that the Apostles at this time received some spirituall grace or power, not of working wonders, but of remitting sinne. If you fur­ther aske, why the power of forgiving sinnes; or, which comes all to one, why remission of sinnes is peculiarly attributed to the Spirit, and by a me­tonymie termed the Holy Ghost: Barradius bringeth us an answer out of the schooles, that Barrad. in harmon. Evang. remission of sinnes is a worke of Gods goodnesse and mercy; now workes of goodnesse are peculiarly attributed to the holy Spirit, who pro­ceedeth (as they determine) from the will of the Father and the Sonne, whose object is goodnesse; as workes of wisedome are attributed to the Sonne, be­cause hee is the word, proceeding by way of generation from the understan­ding of his Father. This reason may goe for currant in their way; neither have I any purpose at this time to crosse it, but to haste to the period of this discourse: in which that I may better discover the path of truth, in stead of many little lights which others have brought, I will set up one great taper made of the sweetest of their waxe.

The Holy Ghost is sometimes taken for the person of the Comforter, which sealeth Gods chosen to salvation: sometimes for the gifts, effects, or operations of the Holy Ghost, as it were, the prints of his scale left in the soule: these are principally three;

• 1 [...], Grace.
• 2 [...], spirituall power or authority.
• 3 [...], Vertue, or ghostly ability to worke wonders, and speake with divers languages.

• 1 Is common to all them that are sanctified.
• 2 Is peculiar to Christs Ministers.
• 3 Restrayned to the Apostles themselves, and some few others of their immediate successors.

• [Page 128]
  Joh. 3.5. Exce [...]t a man be borne of the water and of the spirit—
  1 Regenerating grace is termed the holyGhost.
• 2 Spirituall order, or ministeriall power is called the Spirit or holy Ghost in this place, and Luk. 4.18. & Esay 61.1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the Gospell, &c.
• 3 Miraculous vertue is called the holy Ghost, Act. 2.4. And they were filled with the holy Ghost, and spake with divers tongues.

• 1 The Spirit of grace and regeneration the Apostles received at their first calling.
• 2 The Spirit of ecclesiasticall government they received at this time, &c.
• 3 The Spirit of powerfull and extraordinary operation they re­ceived in the day of Pentecost.

• 1 In their mindes by infallible inspiration.
• 2 In their tongues by multiplicity of languages.
• 3 In their hands by miraculous cures.

Receive then the Holy Ghost, is

• 1 A ghostly function to ordaine Pastors, and sanctifie congrega­tions to God.
• 2 Spirituall gifts to execute and discharge that function.
• 3 Spirituall power or jurisdiction to countenance and support both your function and gifts.

Thus have I opened the treasury of this Scripture, out of which I now offer to your religious thoughts and affections these ensuing observations. And first in generall I commend to the fervour of your zeale and devotion, the excessive heat of Christs love, which absumed and spent him all for us, flesh and spirit. His flesh he offereth us in the Sacrament of his Supper: his spirit hee conferreth in the sacred rite of consecration. His body hee gave by those words, Take, eate, this is my body: his spirit hee gave by these, Receive ye the holy Ghost; a gift unestimable, a treasure unvaluable: for it was this spirit which quickned us when wee were dead in trespasses and sinnes, it is this spirit which fetcheth us againe when wee swoune in de­spaire, it is this spirit that refresheth and cooleth us in the extreme heat of all persecutions, afflictions, sorrowes, and diseases; to it we owe,

• 1 Light in our mindes.
• 2 Warmth in our desires.
• 3 Temper in our affections.
• 4 Grace in our wils.
• 5 Peace in our consciences.
• 6 Joy in our hearts, and unspeakeable comfort in life and death.

This is the winde which bloweth Cant. 4.16. Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out: let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits. upon the Spouse her garden, that the spices thereof might flow out. This is the breath which formeth the words in the cloven tongues: this is the breath which bloweth and openeth all the [Page 129] flowers of Paradise. This is the blast which diffuseth the savour of life through the whole Church. This is the gale which carryeth us through all the troublesome waves of this world, and bringeth us safe to the haven where we would be.

And as the Spouse of Christ, which is his mysticall body, is infinitely indebted to her head for this gift of the spirit, whereby holy congregati­ons are furnished with Pastors, and they with gifts, and the ministery of the Gospell continually propagated; so wee above all nations in the world at this day are most bound to extoll and magnifie his goodnesse towards us herein: among whom in a manner alone, this holy seed of the Church remaineth unmixed and uncorrupt; not onely as propagated but propaga­ting also, not children onely but Fathers. Apostolicall doctrine other re­formed Churches maintaine; but doe they retaine also Apostolicall disci­pline? laying of hands they have on Ministers and Pastors, but consecration of Archbishops and Bishops they have not. And because they want con­secrated Bishops to ordaine Pastors, their very ordination is not according to ancient order. Because they want spirituall Fathers in Christ to beget children in their ministery, their Ministers by the adversary are accounted no better than filii populi; whereas will they nill they, even in regard of our Hierarchy, the most frontlesse Papists must confesse the children be­got by our reverend Fathers in the ministery of the Gospell, to be as legi­timate as their owne. For albeit they put the hereticke upon us, as the Arrians did upon the Catholike Fathers, calling them Athanasians, &c. yet this no way disableth either the consecration of our Bishops, nor the ordination of our Priests; not onely because we have proved the dogge ly­eth at their doores, and that they are a kinde of mungrils of divers sorts of heretickes: but because it is the doctrine of their Church, See Croy in his third conformity. Whitaker in fine resp. ad demon­strat. Sanderi. Ri­vet, procem. de haeref. q. 1. Cath. orthod. that the cha­racter of order is indeleble; and therefore Archbishop Cranmer, and o­ther of our Bishops ordained by them, if they had afterwards (as Papists most falsly suppose) fallen into heresie, could not lose their faculty of consecration and ordination. The consecration of Catholicke Bishops by Arrians, and baptisme of faithfull Christians children by Donatists, though heretickes, is made good, as well by the decrees of ancient as later Councels, determining that Sacraments administred even by heretickes, (so they observe the rite, and forme of words prescribed in holy scrip­ture) bee of force and validity. Praysed therefore for ever bee the good will of him that dwelt in the bush, that the Rod of Aaron still flourisheth a­mong us, and planteth and propagateth it selfe, like that Indian fig-tree so much admired by all Travellers, from the utmost branch whereof issueth a gummy juyce, which hangeth downe like a cord or finew, and within a few months reacheth the ground, which it no sooner toucheth than it ta­keth root and maketh it selfe a tree, and that likewise another, and that like­wise a third, and so forward till they over-runne the whole grove.

To draw nearer to you my Lord to bee consecrated, and so to an end. This scripture is part of the Gospell appointed for the Sunday after Easter, knowne to the Latine Church by the name of Dominica in albis. Which Lords day, though in the slower motion of time in our Calendar, is not yet come; yet according to exact computation, this Sunday is Dominica in al­bis; [Page 130] and if you either respect the reverend presence Candidantium, or Can­didandi, or the sacred order of Investiture now to be performed, let your eyes be judges whether it may not truely be termed Dominica in albis, a Sunday in whites. The text it selfe, as before in the retexture thereof I shewed, is the prototypon or original of all consecrations, properly so called. For howsoever these words may bee used, and are also in the ordination of Priests, because they also receive the holy Ghost, that is, spirituall power and authority; yet they receive it not so amply and fully, nor without some li­mitation, sith ordination and excommunication have bin ever appropriated and reserved to Bishops. And it is to be noted, that the Apostles long before this were sent by Christ to preach and baptize; and therefore they were not now ordained Priests, but consecrated Bishops, as Saint Greg. in Evan. Horum nunc in ecclesiâ Episco­pi locum tenent qui gradum re­giminis sorti­untur, grandis honor sed gra­ve pondus est istius honoris. Gregory saith expressely in his illustration of these words, Receive the holy Ghost: whose sinnes yee remit, &c. Now Bishops who fit at the sterne of the Church, hold the place of those to whom Christ gave here the ghostly power of forgiving sinnes: a great honour indeed, but a great charge with­all, and a heavie burden; so ponderous in Saint Barnards judgement, that it needs the shoulders of an Angell to beare it. The Apostles had made good proofe of their faithfulnesse in the ministry of the Word and Sacra­ments, before Christ lifted them up to this higher staire; as likewise the venerable Personage now to bee taken up into that ranke hath done. For more than thirty yeeres hee hath shined as a starre in the firmament of our Church, and now by the primus motor in our heaven, is designed to bee an Angell (or to speake in the phrase of the Peripatetickes) an Intelligence to guide the motion of one of our Spheres. Which though it be one of the least, his Episcopall dignity is no whit diminished thereby. In Saint Hiero. ad Evag Omnis Episco­pus sive Ro­mae, sive Eugu­bii aequalis est meriti. Hieromes account every Bishop, be his Diocesse great or small, is equally a Bishop; Episcopatus non suscipit magis & minus, one Bishop may be richer than a­nother, or learneder, but hee cannot bee more a Bishop. Therefore how­soever Basil. epist. 31. [...]. Nazianzen tooke it unkindly at Saint Basils hands, after hee was advanced to the Metropolitical See of Cappadocia, and had many good Bi­shopricks in his gift, that he put him upon one of the meanest, being ill si­tuated, and of small revenue; telling him flatly, that he gained nothing by his friendship but this lesson, not to trust a friend: yet it never troubled great Austine that obscure Aurelius worked himselfe into the great and famous Archbishopricke of Carthage, whilest this eminent light of the Church stucke all his life at poore Hippo: for hee well remembred the words of our Lord and Master, Matth. 25.21. Be thou faithfull in a little, and I will set thee over much.

Suffer I beseech you a word of exhortation, and but a word. Be faith­full to your Master, seeke not your owne but the things that are Jesus Christs. It is not sufficient in Nazianzens judgement for a Bishop, not to be soyled with the dust of covetousnesse, or any other vice; Nazian. orat. 1 de fuga in pont. Privati quidem hominis vitium esse existimet turpia suppli­cioque digna perpetrare, praefecti autem vel antistitis non quam op­timum esse. he must shine in vertue, and if hee bee not much better than other men, Idem orat. 20. Antistes impro­bitatis notam ef­fugere non po­test, nisi mul­tum antecellat. hee is no good Bishop. Wherefore as it was said at the creation of the Romane Consul, praesta nomen tuum, thou art made Consul, make good thy name, consule reipublicae: So give mee leave in this day of your consecration to use a like forme of words, to you my Lord Elect; Episcopus es, praesta nomen [Page 131] tuum, you are now to be made a Bishop, an Overseer of the Lords flocke, make good your name, looke over your whole Diocesse, observe not onely the sheepe but the Pastors, not only those that are lyable to your authority & jurisdiction, but those also who execute it under you. Have an eye to your eyes, and hold a strict hand over your hands, I meane your officials, colle­ctors, and receivers; and if your eye cause you to offend, plucke it out, and if your hand, cut it off. Let it never bee said by any of your Diocesse, that they are the better in health for your not visiting them; as the Eras. apoth. Eò melius ha­beo quod te medico non utor. Lacedemonian Pausanias answered an unskilfull Physician that asked him how hee did, the better (quoth he) because I take none of your Physick. Imprint these words alwayes in your heart, which give you your indeleble character: consi­der whose spirit you receive by imposition of hands, and the Lord give you right understanding in all things: it is the spirit of Jesus Christ, he breathed, and said, receive the holy Spirit. This spirit of Jesus Christ is,

1 The spirit of zeale. Joh. 2.17. Bee you not cold in Gods cause, whip out buyers and sellers out of the Church.

2 The spirit of discretion. Joh. 10.14. I am the good shepheard, and know my sheepe, and am knowne of them. Know them well whom you trust with the mysteries of salvation, to whom you commit those soules which God hath purchased with his owne blood; lay not hands rashly upon any, for if the Matth. 6.23. light be darkenesse how great will the darkenesse be? If in giving holy orders, and imposition of hands there be a confusion (hand over head) how great will the confusion be in the Church?

3 The spirit of meeknesse. Matth. 11.29. Learne of me that I am meek, breake not a bruised reede, nor quench the smoaking flaxe; sis bonus O foe­lixque tuis, be good especially to those of your own calling. Take not Histor. Aug. in Aureliano. Au­relian for your patterne, whose souldiers more feared him than the enemy: but rather Suet. in Tit. Titus Vespasian, who suffered no man by his good will to goe sad from him, and in this regard was stiled, Amor & delicrae humani gene­ris, the love and darling of mankinde. The laity shew in their name what they are durum genus; and how ill they stand affected to us, [...] stone. and hardly en­treat our tribe, all have experience who have or ever had pastorall char­ges. Wee cannot pray them so fast into heaven, as they will sweare us out of our maintenance on earth. And what reliefe wee have at secular tribu­nals the world seeth; and if wee must yet expect harder measure from your officers and servants, I know not to what more fitly to compare the infe­riour of our Clergy, who spend themselves upon their parochiall cures, and are flieced by them whom they feed, and by whom they should bee fedde, through vexatious suits in law, than to the poore hare in the Epi­gram, which to save her selfe from the hounds, leaped into the sea, and was devoured by a sea-dogge: ‘ Auson epig.In me omnis terrae pelagi (que) ruina est.’

4 The spirit of humility. Matth. 20.28. The Sonne of man came not to bee ministred unto but to minister. The head of the Church vouchsafeth Joh. 13.14. to wash his disciples feet, professing therein ( ver. 15.) that hee gave them an example, that they should doe as hee had done to them. Winde blowne [Page 132] into a bladder filleth it, and into flesh, maketh it swell; but the breath of God inspired into the soule produceth the contrary effect: it abateth and taketh downe all swelling of pride. Take not Austine the Monke for your patterne, from whose proud behaviour towards them, the Brittish Monkes truely concluded, that hee was not sent unto them from Christ; but Saint Austine the Father, whose modest speech in a contention betweene him and Jerome, gained him more respect from all men, than ever the Bishops of Rome got by their swelling buls, and direfull fulminations. According to the present custome of the Church (saith he) the title of a August. epist. ad Hieron. Bishop is above that of a Priest, yet Priest Jerome is a better man than Bishop Austine. As the Bruson facet. & exempl. Athenians wisely answered Pompey, requiring from them divine honour; We will so farre account thee a God, as thou acknowledgest thy selfe a man (for humility of minde in eminency of fortune is a divine perfe­ction): so the lesse you account your selfe a Prelate, the more all men will preferre and most highly honour you. When Christ consecrated his Apo­stles Bishops, he breathed on them, to represent after a sort visibly by an outward symbole, the eternall and invisible procession of the holy Ghost from his person. In regard of which divine signification of that his insuffla­tion, no man may presume to imitate that rite, though they may, and do use the words, Receive the holy Ghost. All that may bee done to supply the defect of that ceremony is in stead of breathing upon you, to breath out prayers to almighty God for you, that you right reverend Fathers may give; and for you my Lord Elect, that you may receive the holy Ghost; for us that wee may worthily administer; and for you that you may worthily participate the blessed body and blood of our Saviour; and for us all, that wee may bee nourished by his flesh, and quickened by his spirit, and live in him, and hee in us; and dwell in him, and he in us: So be it, &c.

THE FAITHFULL SHEPHEARD. A Sermon preached at the Consecration of three Bishops, the Lords Elect of Oxford, Bristoll, and Che­ster, in his Graces Chappell at Lambeth, May 9. 1619. THE ELEVENTH SERMON.

ARchilochus Arist. Rhet. c. 2. sharpning his quill, and dipping it in gall a­gainst Lycambes; that his satyricall invectives might bee more poignant, putteth the pen in Archilochus his Fathers hand, and by an elegant prosopopeia maketh him upbraid his sonne with those errors and vices, which it was not fit that any but his father should in such sort rip up. And Orat. pro M. Coelio. Tully being to read a lecture of gravity and modesty to Clodia, which became not his yeares or condition, raiseth up, as it were, from the grave, her old grandfather Appius Caecus, and out of his mouth delivereth a sage and fatherly admonition to her. In like manner (right Reverend) receiving the charge from you to give the charge unto you at this present, and being over-ruled by authority to speak some­thing of the eminent authority & sacred dignity into which ye are now to be invested; I have brought upon this holy stage the first of your ranke, and auncientest of your Apostolicall order, to admonish you with authority both of your generall calling, as Pastours set over Christs flocke, and your speciall, as Bishops set over the Pastors themselves: That in the [Page 132] former words, [...], feed; this in the latter, [...], bishoping, or ta­king the over-sight of them. Both they are to performe,

• 1 Not by constraint:
• 2 Not for lucre.
• 3 Not with pride.

1 Not by const [...]ant: constraint standeth not with the dignity of the A­postles successors.

2 Not for filthy lucre: filthy lucre sorts not with Gods Priests.

3 Not in, or with Lord-like pride: Lord-like pride complyeth not with the humility of Christs Ministers.

As Tully the aged wrote to Cato the auncient, of old age; so in the words of my text Peter the Elder writeth to Elders, of the calling, life and reward of Elders in the Church of God.

• 1 Their function is feeding, and overlooking Christs flocke, enjoy­ned ver. 2.
• 2 Their life is to be a patterne of all vertue, drawne ver. 3.
• 3 Their reward is a Crowne of glory, set before them ver. 4.

• 1 Their function sacred, answerable to their calling, which is divine.
• 2 Their life exemplary, answerable to their function, which is sacred.
• 3 Their reward, exceeding great, answerable to the eminency of the one, and excellency of the other.

May it please you therefore to observe out of the words,

• 1 For your instruction, what your function is.
• 2 For correction, what your life should be.
• 3 For comfort, what your reward shall be.

As the costly Exod. 28.14. ornaments of Aaron were fastened to the Ephod with golden chaines of writhen worke, so all the parts and points of the Apostles exhortation are artificially joyned and tyed together with excellent cohe­rence, as it were with chaines of gold. This chaine thus I draw through them all.

Feede.1 There are some of the ministery fitter to be fed and led like sheep, than to feed or lead like shepheards; they are hunger-starved themselves, ha­ving no better provision than the Apostles had in the wildernesse after Christs miraculous feast, Matth. 14.20. a few baskets full of broken meat. Saint Tantae cha­ritatis sunt per quos nobis flu­enta coelestia emanant, ut an­tea effundere quam effundi velint, loqui quam audire paratiores, prompti docere quod nunquam didicerunt, Bernard. Ber­nard admireth at their charity, saying, they by whom the streames of heaven­ly doctrine flow to us, are of such superabundant charity, that they desire to empty themselves before they are halfe full, nay many before they have any drop of saving knowledge, and divine learning, most ready to deliver that which they never received, and teach what they never learned. Such a one was that Lactant. divin. instit. l. 5. Cum c [...]cus ipse esser, alios illuminare suscepit in se. Bithynian whom Lactantius taketh up for taking upon him to [Page 135] cure dimme and darke eyes, when himselfe was starke blinde. I finde nothing whereunto I may fitter resemble them, than to squibs or small fire-works, which as soone as they take fire, never leave popping and shoo­ting, and making a hideous noyse, till all the powder be spent: so these ha­ving rammed a little stuffe together, and being kindled with blinde zeale, never leave shooting and spitting fire in the pulpit, as long as their poore provision lasteth. These men, howsoever they are lyable to many other exceptions, yet all men will free them from the imputation which Foelix laid upon Saint Paul, Act. 26.24. much learning hath made thee madde. And as secure are they from the danger of the killing letter, as the Poet in his witty Epi­gram playeth upon an ignorant Priest in time of Popery;

Thou hast taken good care that the killing letter shall not hurt thee, for thou knowest never a better in the booke. The measures of the Sanctuary con­tained twise as much as the common measures, the shekel of the Sanctuary weighed downe two other shekels; to shew us that the gifts of a Pastour ought to carrie a double proportion to those of his flocke, else he had need to be fed himselfe; and is not qualified for this duty required in my text, in the first place, Feed.

2 Of those that are able to feed, some feed themselves, not their flocke; The flocke. like Varus, taxed by Velleius Paterculus, who came poore into a rich Pro­vince, but went rich out of the poore Province; making a very gainefull exchange, by leaving them the povertie he brought with him, and taking with him the wealth hee found there. Feed yee not your selves but the Flocke.

3 Of those that feed the Flocke, some feed not Gods Flocke, Of God. but Sa­tans heard; teaching in Conventicles of Heretikes, or Schismatikes. Waspes have their hives as well as Bees, and Pirats have their Pilots as well as ho­nest Merchants: be not ye like them; feed not the droves of Satan or Anti­christ, but the Flocke of God.

4 Of those that feed the Flocke of God, Among you. some feed not that Flocke which is among them, they are [...], Bishops in other mens Dio­cesses; they thrust their sickle into anothers harvest, and discharge without a charge: they may rightly say with the Spouse in the Canticles, Cant. 1.6. They have made me (or rather I have made my selfe) a keeper of vineyards, but mine owne vineyard have I not kept. If the frogs of Plin. nat. Inst. l. 8. Ranae mu­tae sunt etiam nunc in Sery­pho Insula, eae­dem alio tran­slatae canunt, &c. Seryphus could speake they would claime kindred of these men; for as those frogs in the Island where they are bred are dumbe, and make no noise at all, but carried to any o­ther Countrie, fall on singing or croaking, and never give over: so these are silent and quiet in their owne cures, but when they are out of them none can be quiet for them: they who can scarce afford a Sermon in a moneth at their owne home, make nothing of lecturing every day in the weeke a­broad.

5 Of those that feed the flocke of God which is among them, that is, Taking the over­sight thereof. preach painefully and powerfully, some are not not [...] Overloo­kers; [Page 136] they take not the over-sight of their flocke, they have not an eye to their life and manners, they never use the reine, or rather curbe of ecclesia­sticall discipline; forgetting that in the Arke of God, together with the Ta­ble of the Testimony, and the Pot of Manna, the Rod of Aaron that budded was layd up: and that where Psal. 23.4. David compareth God to a shepheard, he maketh mention both of his rod and staffe.

Not by constraint6 Of those that feede the flocke of God that is amongst them, and take the oversight thereof, that is, both rule well, and labour in the word, some de­serve not the double honour, because they doe it by constraint, not willing­ly, like those Calves, and Bullocks, and Rams, that were pulled and haled to the Altars of the heathen gods, wherewith Plin. l. 8. nat. hist. c. 45. Hoc quo (que) notatum est, vitulos ad aras humeris homi­num allatos, non fere litare, nec aliená ho­stiâ placari de­os, nec trahen­te se ab aris. Pliny observeth that the Paynim deities were never pleased, nor gave good successe to them which offered such sacrifice unto them. Nature her selfe giveth a prerogative to that Plin. nat. hist. l. 11. c. 15. In omni melle quod per se flu­it, ut mustum, oleum (que) quod appellatur a­caeton, maxime laudabile est. Not for filthy in­cre. honey which drops out of the combe, before that which is forced or squized out; and to that Plin. nat. hist. l. 12. c. 15. In­ciduntur bis, sudant autem sponte prius­quam incidan­tur stacten di­ctam. oyle which sweats out of the Myrrhe trees, is­suing from thence of it owne accord, before that which runneth after prick­ing or incision. The noblest pallat wine is made of that liquor of the grape which spinneth out upon the smallest touch, without any violent pres­sure: ‘ Theog. gnom. [...].’

7 Of those that take the over-sight of the flocke, not by constraint but willingly, some doe it not freely, or of a ready minde, but for filthy lucre. The Eccho taught by Erasmus, rings this in the eares of the Laity, and they heare it briefe, Quid venatur sacerdos? [...]. And Plat. in Bon. 3. Re verâ pace bonorum di­cam, multi e­piscopatum de­siderant, ex­plendae avari­tiae suae causa, non quo com­muni utilitati ut eorum ex­poscit officium & nomen, consulant: quaeritur enim quantum red­dat episcopa­tus, non quot oves pascuae in eo sint. Platina giveth a touch hereof in the life of Pope Goodface the third; the first question is, af­ter a man is chosen Pope, what is the Bishopricke of Rome worth? Fil­thy lucre carrieth such an ill favour with it, that the precious oyntment of Aaron cannot take away the smell thereof. Covetousnesse is a spot in any coat, but a stain in the linnen Ephod: what so unfit? what so incongruous? nay what so opprobrious and scandalous, as for those who in scripture are stiled Angels, and should like Angels, by continuall meditations, and di­vine contemplations behold the face of God in heaven, to turne earth-wormes, and lye and feed upon very mucke? How dare they deliver the holy Sa­crament with those hands that have received bribes? or are defiled with the price of blood? or are foule with telling their use-money? Holinesse (which of all other most be fitteth our sacred calling) in the greeke imply­eth a contradiction to earthlinesse: [...], which wee render holy, is all one in that language as unearthly. If a glasse bee soyled with dust, or be [...] [...]ea­red with dirt, it reflecteth no image at all: in like manner if the minde bee soyled with the dust of earthlinesse, the image of God cannot appeare in it; the fancie of such a man will represent no spirituall forme, conceive no divine or heavenly imaginations. If wee seeke our owne and not the things that are Jesus Christs, the goods not the good of our flocke, wee lose the first letter of our name in the Prophet Ezek. 3.17. Sonne of man, I have made thee a watchman. Ezekiel, and of speculatores become peculatores, and are not to be termed praedicatores but praedatores. But I will not make this blot bigger by unskilfully going about to take it out.

[Page 137]8 Of those that feede, Not as Lords. and take the over-sight of Gods flocke that is among them, not by constraint but willingly, not for filthy lucre; but of a ready minde, some carry themselves like Lords over the flocke, not as ensamples to their flock, they goe in and out before them in a stately and lordly gate, Concil. Carthag 4. [...]. fu­mosus seculity­phus. [...], in swelling pride, not in exemplary humility, seeking rather to o­ver-rule them with terrour and violence, than rule over them with the spi­rit of meeknesse. These though they are put up to the highest fourme, yet have not learned the first lesson in the schoole of Christianity, Matth. 11.29. to be meek and lowly in heart: neither understand they that divine graces, which are the plants of Paradise, are like to the tree in the Poet that bare golden boughes:

whose root was just so much beneath the earth as the top was in height a­bove it. The higher Gods Saints grow upwards to perfection, the deeper they take root downward in humility, considering that they have nothing of their owne, but sinne; and what a foolish and impious sinne of pride is it, to bee proud of sinne? He that presumes on his owne strength, saith ho­ly Austine, is conquered before hee fight. To repose trust in our selves, saith Bern. serm. 20. in vigil. nat. dom. Sibimet ipsi fi­dere, non fidei sed perfidiae est, nec confiden­tiae sed diffi­dentiae magis, in semetipso habere fiduci­am. Bernard, is not of faith, but perfidiousnesse, neither breeds it true confidence, but diffidence. To bee proud of knowledge, is to bee blinde with light: to bee proud of vertue is to poyson himselfe with the Anti­dote: and to be proud of authority, is to make his rise his downefall, and his ladder his ruine. It is the darke foyle that giveth the Diamond its brightest lustre: it is the humble, and low, and obscure conceit of our owne worth that giveth lustre and grace to all our vertues and perfections, if we have any: Moses glory was the greater because his face shined, and he knew not of it.

Thus have I numbred unto you the severall linkes of the Apostles gol­den chaine of instructions for Pastors, now let us gather them together in a narrow roome.

• 1 Be not such as neede to be fed, but are able and willing to feede.
• 2 Feede not your selves but the flocke.
• 3 Feede not the flocke or droves of Antichrist, but the flocke of God.
• 4 Feede the flocke of God, not out of your charge, or without you, but the flocke of God which is among you.
• 5 Content not your selves with feeding them onely with the Word and Sacrament, but over-looke them also, have an eye to their manners.
• 6 Doe this not constrainedly, but willingly.
• 7 Not out of private respects, but freely.
• 8 Not proudly but humbly; not to shew your authority over the flock, but to set before them an ensample in your selves of humility, meekenesse, temperance, patience, and all other vertues.

Thus feede the flocke of God that is among you, thus rule those whom you feede, thus carry yourselves towards those whom you rule, thus give good ensample in your carriage; and when the chiefe shepheard and Bi­shop [Page 138] of your soules Christ Jesus shall appeare, you shall receive in stead of a Crosier a Scepter, of a Miter a Crowne, of a Diocesse upon earth a King­dome in heaven.

You see I have a large and plentifull field before mee, yet I purpose at this time to follow the example of the Apostles, Matth. 12.1. who as they passed through the corne field, plucked only an eare or two, and rubbed them in their hands.

To rub the first eare, that you may see what graine it yeeldeth. To feed, saith l. 1. de Rom. pont. c. 15. In scripturis pas­cere passim ac­cipitur pro re­gere, ut psal. 2. reges cos in virgâ ferreâ: in Heb. est pas­ce [...] & Apoc. 2.27. [...] Bellarmine, signifieth to rule with princely authority, to sway the scepter as a spirituall Prince over Christs flocke; and to this purpose hee alledgeth that text in the Apocalyps, 2.27. [...] hee shall feede (or rule) them with a rod of iron: hard feeding for Christs sheepe; hee had need to have an Estridge's stomacke that can digest this interpretation here. Feed, not over-ruling, ver. 3. that is, over-rule them, not feeding: this is as natu­rall an interpretation of this scripture, as the glosse upon the word statui­mus in the Canon law, id est, abrogamus, or statuimus quod non; wee enact, that is, wee abrogate; we command, that is, wee forbid; we appoint this, that is, wee appoint that this shall not bee. If this be a right interpretation of this place, and the other parallel to it in Saint Joh. 20.17. John, then Saint Bernard. de considerat. ad Eu­gen. l. 2. I ergo tu & tibi usur­pare aude aut dominans apo­stolatum, aut apostolicus do­minatum, &c. Ber­nard was in the wrong, for hee inferres the cleane contrary from it: and which is most considerable, in a booke of consideration dedicated to the Pope himselfe: Peter could not give thee that which he had not; what he had, that he gave thee, care over the Churches: but did hee not also give thee do­minion? heare what himselfe saith, not as being Lords over Gods heritage but being made examples to the flocke: lest any man should thinke that this was spoken onely in humility, and not in truth, it is the voice of the Lord in the Gospell, Kings of the nations beare rule over them, but it shall not bee so with you; it is plaine that Lord-like dominion is forbidden to the Apostles: goe too therefore now, and assume to thy selfe if thou dare, either the office of an Apo­stle, if thou be a Lord, or Lord-like Dominion if thou be an Apostle. Howbeit I deny not that the word [...] here used, sometimes signifieth to rule with Princely authority, and Lord-like command, both in Scriptures and prophane Writers: as Hom. Il. 1. Homer stileth King Agamemnon [...], the Shepheard of the people: so God himselfe calleth Cyrus his Esay 44.28. That saith of Cy­rus, he is my shep­heard. Shepheard; and which is very observable, Cyrus as if hee had taken notice of this name imposed by God upon him before his birth, was wont usually to say, Xen. Cyr. poed. l. 8. [...]. That a good Prince was like a good Shepheard, who can by no other meanes grow rich, than by making his flocke to thrive under him; the prospe­rity of the subject is not only the honour but the wealth also of the Prince. All this maketh nothing for the Popes triple Crowne, to which hee layeth claime by vertue of Christs threefold pasce, or feede (Joh. 21.15.16.17.) for neither doth [...] originally, nor properly, nor usually signifie to reigne as a King, especially when oves meae, or grex domini, my sheepe, or the flocke of God is construed with it; nor can it be so taken here, or Joh. 21. as the light of both texts set together reflecting one upon the other will cleer the point. For that which Christ enjoyneth Peter, Joh. 21. that Peter here enjoyneth all Elders: the words of the charge are the same, Feede my sheepe, there; Feede the flocke of God, here. But Saint Peter enjoyneth not [Page 139] all Elders in these words to rule with soveraigne authority as Kings over the whole flocke, or as Lords over their owne peculiar: for this hee ex­pressely forbiddeth, ver. 3. therefore to usurpe authority over the whole Church, or to domineere over any part thereof, is not to feede ac­cording to Christs charge to Saint Peter, or Saint Peters to all Elders. What is it then? if you have reference to the Etymology [...] is [...], to feede, as the word imports in the originall, is to reside upon our cure, or abide with our flocke, where the spouse is commanded to seeke Christ, Cant. 1.8. goe thy way forth to the footsteps of the flocke. And indeed where should the Sentinell be but upon his watch-tower? where the Pilot but at the sterne? where the intelligence but at his orbe? where the sunne but within his ecliptick line? where the candle but in the candle-stick? where the diamond but in the ring? where the shepheard but among his flocke? whom hee is to feede, for whom he is to provide, of whom hee is to take the over-sight, to whom hee ought to bee an example; which hee cannot be if hee never be in their sight. But because this observation is grounded only upon the Etymology, I will lay no more stresse upon it. The proper and full signification of the word is pastorem agere, to play the good shep­heard, or exercise the function of a Pastor, which consisteth in three things especially:

• 1 Docendo quid facere debeant.
• 2 Orando ut facere possint.
• 3 Increpando si non faciant.

• 1 In teaching those of his flock what they ought to doe.
• 2 In praying that they may doe it.
• 3 In reproving if they doe it not.

All which may bee reduced to a threefold feeding:

• 1 With the Word, Jer. 3.
  Jer. 3.15. I will give you pastors according to mine owne heart, that shall feede you with knowledge and understan­ding.
• 2 With the Sacraments, Apoc. 2. & Joh. 6.
• 3 With the Rod, Micah 7.14.

To feed with the Word and Sacraments is the common duty of all Pa­stors, but to feed with the rod is reserved to Bishops: they are Seraphims, holding the spirituall sword of excommunication in their hands, to guard the tree of life: whose speciall office, and eminent degree in the Church is implyed in the word [...], which the vulgar latine rendereth provi­dentes, but Saint Aug. de civ. l. 19 c. 19. Supervi­dentes appel­lantur, ut intel­ligant se non es­se episcopos qui prae esse di­lexerint, non prodesse. Austine more agreeable to the Etymology, superviden­tes, super-visours, or super-intendents. Yet this is but a generall notation of the name; every Bishop is a super-visour or over-seer, but every super-visour is not a Bishop. The Lacedaemonian Magistrates were called Ephori, which is an equivalent stile to Episcopi: and Euseb. vit. Con­stant [...]. Constantine the great spake as truely as piously to his Bishops; Yee reverend Fathers are Bishops of them that are within the Church, but I of them that are out of the Church: where your pastorall staffe is too short, I will piece it out and lengthen it with my scepter. [...] in the most proper and restreyned signification, [Page 140] is to exercise Episcopall authority (or performe the office of a Bishop) which consisteth in two things:

• 1 In ordaining.
• 2 Ordering.

• 1 Giving orders.
• 2 Keeping order.

Saint Paul giveth Tit. 1.5. Titus both in charge: for this cause left I thee in Crete, to ordaine Elders in every Church, there is the first, to wit, ordina­tion; and to set in order things that are wanting, or [...], to correct things out of order, there is the second, viz. ordering or reformation. Timothy like­wise the first consecrated Bishop of Ephesus is put in minde of these bran­ches of his Episcopall function: of the first, 1 Tim. 5.22.19 Lay hands suddenly on no man: of the second, Against an Elder receive not an accusation but under two or three witnesses: ver. 20. Them that sinne rebuke before all, that others also may feare. Be not ver. 22. partaker of any other mans sinnes, to wit, by not censuring or pu­nishing them. These two offices to bee most necessary in the Church, e­very mans reason and common experience will informe us. For how shall wee have Ministers at all without ordination? and how shall wee have good Ministers or people without visitation? Now for Presbyters or Mi­nisters, who are equall in degree to exercise authority one over the other, and lay hands upon themselves, & so to become their own ghostly Fathers, is to make order it selfe a confusion. Therefore God in the law put a diffe­rence between the Priests and Levits: and Christ in the gospell between the Apostles and Disciples; and the Apostles after Christs death between Bishops and Elders. Which the primitive Church kept so religiously, that to oppose it in practice was accounted no lesse than Act. Concil. 1. Chalced. [...]. sacriledge; in do­ctrine, flat heresie. The first that I finde ever to have gone about to break downe the partition wall betweene Bishops and Presbyters, was Aerius, a man like his name, light and aery, easily carried away with the winde of ambition. For as Epiph. haeres. 71. Cum epi­scopatus spe excidisset Eu­stathio postha­bitus, ut se con­solaretur hanc haeresem exco­gitavit. [...]. Epiphanius writeth, standing for a Bishopricke, and missing it, hee invented this heresie to comfort himselfe; and because hee could not raise up himselfe to the high ranke of Bishops, hee sought to pull them downe to his lower ranke of Elders. What difference, saith he, is there betweene a Bishop and a Priest? none at all, their order, and honour, and dignity, is one and the selfe-same. But for this his sawcy malepartnesse he felt the smart of the Crosier staffe, and for ranking Bishops among Presby­ters or Elders, he was himself ranked among hereticks. God who made grea­ter & lesser lights in the firmament, and set Angels in ranks one above ano­ther, hath erected an See King James his Cyg­nea Cantio. Bilson his perpe­tuall governe­ment. Bancroft his slavey of the ho­ly pretended discipline, c. de episc. Downam his sermon at the consecration of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Andrew opus posthum. Hallier defenc. ecclesiast. hierar. l. 1. Aurelius vindi­ciae censurae tit. 3. de epis. & cura­tis. Hierarchy upon earth: which as he hath ever yet, so I hope he still will to the end of the world establish and support and propa­gate it, as it hath wonderfully supported and propagated the Church. The bounds therof extended by the preaching, & kept by the government of Bi­shops; the Hereticks and Schismaticks in all ages suppressed by Councels and Synods of Bishops; the Rubricks of Ecclesiasticall Kalendars coloured with the blood of so many martyred Bishops, are sufficient evidence there­of. [Page 141] And as the Church soone after her first plantation exceedingly pro­spered under the shade of James Bishop of Jerusalem, Titus of Crete, Ti­mothy of Ephesus, Marke of Alexandria, Ignatius of Antioch, Antipas of Pergamus, Polycarpe of Smyrna, and divers others ordayned by the Apo­stles, or their immediate successors; and in succeeding ages received her best sap and nourishment from the Greeke and Latine Fathers, who for the most part were Bishops: so Beza de grad. Min. evang. cap. 18. Non tantum insig­nes Dei mar­tyres, sed etiam praestantissi­mos doctores & pastores. Beza himselfe acknowledgeth it to have beene the singular happinesse of the Church of England, which he prayeth may be perpetuall, that this reverend and sacred order hath yeelded not only famous Martyrs, but also most excellent Doctors and Pastors. As the Poet blazing the vertues of the Emperour then reigning, said,

Brutus and Camillus and Cato, the greatest sticklers for the liberty of the commonwealth, if they were now alive would turne Royalists: so wee may truely affirme that the greatest enemies of Episcopall jurisdiction, could not but approve of such Bishops as now sit at the sterne in our Church. And what if all are not such? must the whole order suffer for their sake? ‘ Ovid l. 1. de art. Desine paucorum diffundere crimen in omnes.’ lay not upon all the fault of some. If one or other budde of Aarons rod, the bishopricke of Rome and the dependants thereon, are turned into serpents, shall the whole rod bee cast out of the Arke, and Jonah's gourd put in the place thereof? I meane the new sprung up mushrome, the go­vernement of lay Elders; Elders whereof no elder age of the Church ever took notice, and the younger cannot tell yet how to christen them: because they are a kind of epicoens, of both genders, plant-animals, partly animals, partly plants: like a sort of Nuns at Bruxels, partly regular partly secular; in the morning wearing the cowles and habit of Recluses, in the afternoone the feathers and other attire of Gallants. For they are Clergy-laickes, and Lay-clerkes: of their clergy they are, for they together with their Mini­sters ordaine Ministers, and inflict ecclesiasticall censures; and yet laickes they are, for they may not preach nor baptize. Church-men they are, for they beare rule in the Church; yet church-men they are not, for they may receive no maintenance from the Church. They are the Elders that rule well, and labour, not in the word, for such they will have intimated by S. Paul; yet the honour which their owne Interpreters there expound honourable maintenance, is not due unto them. Spare me Men, Fathers, and Brethren, if I spare not them who goe about to bereave us of our spirituall Fathers, qui saeviunt in plagas & vulnera ecclesiae, who seeke to ruine the ruines, and spoile the very spoiles of ecclesiasticall dignity and distinction left among us. To place such Bats as these, rather mice than birds, must Christs Apo­stles and their successors be displaced, and all rankes of ecclesiasticall or­der confounded: is there any justice in this, to breake all Crosier staves, [Page 142] and tread all Miters under foot, and teare all Rochets in pieces ‘Unius ob noxam & furias Ajacis Oilei.’ for the usurpations and tyranny of one Bishop the Pope of Rome? By this reason take away the reverend order of the Apostles for Judas sake, take away the sacred order of Prophets for Balaams sake, take away the soveraigne order of Princes for Julians sake, take away the glorious orbs of starres for the starres sake called Apoc. 8.11. wormewood in the Apocalyps, nay take away the highest regiment of Angels for Lucifers sake, and the rest of his faction, somtime in the highest order in heaven, but now reserved in chaines of darkenesse till the great day.

This may suffice to bee spoken of, and for your calling: two words of the two duties implyed in the words, [...] and [...], feede, and take the over-sight. You are Pastors and Bishops, make good your titles, feede as Pastors, take the over-sight of your Diocesse as Bishops. The three or­ders in the Church, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, resemble the three fa­culties of the soule, the vegetative, sensitive, and reasonable. For as the sensitive faculty includeth the vegetative, & aliquid amplius and somewhat more, to wit, sense; and the reasonable implyeth the sensitive, & aliquid amplius and somewhat more, to wit, reason; so a Priest implieth a Deacon, & aliquid amplius; and a Bishop imply­eth a Priest, & aliquid amplius. Yee are (my Lords) both Bishops and Priests, and as you are invested into a double honour, so you have a double charge: as Bishops you are to rule well; as Priests to labour in the word: as Priests you are to preach, as Bishops to ordaine Priests, and countenance Preachers: as Priests you are to smite simony and sacri­ledge, schisme and heresie, impurity and impiety, gladio oris, with the sword of your mouth; as Bishops, ore gladii, with the mouth, that is, the edge of the sword, the sword of ecclesiasticall censures which Christ hath put in­to your hand: beare not this sword in vaine, be not partakers of the sinnes of any of the clergy, or bribes of the laity; use this your sword for, not a­gainst the Church: ‘ Virg. Aen. 4.Non hos quaesitum munus in usus.’

Hold not too strict a hand over your too much oppressed Clergy; let it not be said of the clergy of your Diocesse, as it was said of the Roman soul­diers under Severus, that they were more afraid of their Captaine than of the enemy. For as Saint Paul speaketh to the Corinthians, if I make you sad who shall comfort you? so may I say to you, if you dishearten poore Ministers who shall comfort them, or stand for them? the laity? no, they take too much of the nature of the stone, from whence they have their name given them, [...] signifieth people, [...] a stone. [...] from [...]: if a faithful minister of Jesus Christ, if a diligent preacher that spends his oile & week, his body and soul to give them light; sue but for his dues, especially if he mutter but a word against their great Diana, their sacrilegious customes, which oft deprive the ministers of the Gospell of nine parts of the Tenth, and leave them but decimam decimae, the tenth of the tenth; they will all fall upon him, and unlesse your power and authority relieve him, grinde him to powder. They use their godly Preachers, whom the world cannot parallel, as the Hawke in He­siod [Page 143] dealt with the melodious Nightingale, Hesiod. op. & dies l. 1. they plume them and devoure them, [...], although they bee the sweetest singers of Israel. Many of them after they have spent their strength in preaching in season and out of season, catechizing and lecturing on the Lords day, and on the weeke dayes, may truely say as Synesius sometimes complayned that they carried nothing away from their parishes or cures, but bonam conscientiam & malam valetudinem, a good conscience, and an ill and cr [...]zed body.

No more of [...], taking the over-sight: and but a word of [...], feede, lest whilest I exhort you to feede, I detaine you from better feeding, viz. upon the blessed Sacrament now set before you. As in Churches and Noble-mens hals, where there hang great Candlestickes with many branches, the lights are first let downe to bee tinded, and when they are fully lighted, then they are drawne up by degrees to give light to the whole roome: so our Church first sendeth her sweet waxe lights, made and formed in private schooles, downe to the Universities to bee tinded, and when they are fully enlightned with knowledge, then draweth them up by degrees, first to pastorall charges, then to dignities, Deaneries, and Bishopricks; not that then they should bee put out, but to the end that as they are set higher they should give more light. You are, right Reverend, the silver Trumpet of Zion, whom God lifteth up on high that you may sound the louder & shriller, as bels are hung higher in the steeple, that they may bee heard further. Let it bee never said of you as it was of Saul, that when hee came to the high places he made an end of prophecying. The more God hath honoured you, the more you ought to honour him; the higher Christ hath preferred you, the more you ought to love him, and shew this your love by your treble diligence in feeding his sheepe. To which end these words, Peter lovest thou me? feed my sheep, &c. are by the order of our Church appointed to bee read for the Gospell at your consecration. I grant you feede many wayes; you feede when you appoint pastors to feed, you feede when you instruct them how to feede, you feede when you cen­sure them for not feeding their flockes, or not feeding them with whole­some food, you feede in a Synode when you make good canons, you feede in your visitations when you encourage good Ministers, and reforme abu­ses in the Church, lastly, you feede at your tables when you keepe good hospitality. And after all these manners the Apostles and ancient Fathers fed; yet they thought themselves in danger of a vae, or curse if they fed not by preaching the Gospell in their owne persons. Woe bee to mee, saith Saint 1 Cor. 9.16. Paul, if I preach not the Gospell. Saint Gregory was a Bishop himselfe, and that of a very large and troublesome Diocesse (for hee was Pope of Rome) yet hee deepely chargeth Bishops with this duety, thus inferring upon Christs words to Peter, lovest thou mee? feed, &c. Greg. in verb. evang. secundum Johan. Si dile­ctionis argu­mentum est cu­ra pastoralis, quisquis virtu­tibus pollens gregem Dei re­nuit pascere, summum pasto­rem convinci­tur non amare. If care and dili­gence in a pastorall charge be an argument, and certaine evidence of the love wee beare to Christ, whosoever furnished with gifts and abilities thereunto, refuseth to feede Christs flocke, is to be taken pro convicto, that hee beares no good affection to the chiefe Pastor and Bishop of our souls. If the love of Christ constrayned us not to stirre up the grace of God in us, which wee have re­ceived by imposition of hands, and even like lampes to spend our selves to give light to our flockes; yet methinkes the excellency of this function [Page 144] should enflame us thereunto. Where can we fixe our thoughts with more delight and contentment than upon heaven and heavenly objects? how can wee put our tongues to a better use than to declare the word of life? to preach the Gospell of the Kingdome? to sound out our makers praises? how can our hands be better employed than about the seales of grace? Heare Saint Chrysost. homil. 1. in Matth. [...], &c. Chrysostome open his golden mouth, and weigh his words in the scales of the sanctuary: Seest thou not, saith hee, how thine eyes water whilest thou stayest in the smoake, but are cleared and refreshed if thou goe out into the open ayre, or walkest a turne in a pleasant garden? so the eye of our minde is cleared, and our spirituall senses much revived by walking in the garden of holy Scriptures, and smelling to the flowers of Paradise; but if wee run about in the smoake, that is, busie our selves about earthly affaires, we shall shed many a teare, and be in danger of quite losing our sight.

I will conclude, and briefely represent all the principall points of the A­postles exhortation to your view in one type of the law. In the Arke of the covenant there was the rod of Exod. 24.25. Aaron that budded, and about it a crown of gold. By the rod of Aaron you easily apprehend the Priests office or pastorall charge: the buds of this rod, or parts of this charge are two, fee­ding and overseeing; which ought to bee performed not by constraint, but willingly, as the buddes were not drawne out of Aarons rod, but put forth of their owne accord. And herein wee are not to respect our owne good, but the good of our flocke: wee must doe nothing for filthy lucre, but of a free minde to benefit others, as the rod of Aaron bare not blossomes or fruit to, or for it selfe, but to, and for others. By the fruits of Aarons rod you may understand the good life of a faithfull Pastor, who is to be an example to his flock; this fruit enclineth him to true humility opposite to Lord-like pride, as the fruit of a tree weigheth the branches downe to the earth. Lastly, by the Crowne above the rod, and round about the Arke, is represen­ted the reward of a faithfull Shepheard and vigilant Bishop. You have the embleme of your office, the word or Motto shall be Germinet virga Aaro­nis, Let the rod of Aaron blossome in your mouths by preaching the word, and budde in your hands by the exercise of ecclesiasticall discipline, and beare fruit in your lives by being ensamples to your flocke, and the crowne a­bove the rod, and about the Arke shall bee yours, as it is promised, ver. 4. And when the chiefe shepheard shall appeare, you shall receive a crowne of glory that fadeth not away; ‘Which God the Father grant for the price of his Sonnes blood, to whom with the holy Spirit be all honour, glory, praise, and thanks-giving, now and for ever, Amen.’

THE TREE OF SAVING KNOVVLEDGE: OR Schola Crucis, Schola Lucis, A Sermon preached in Lent, March 16. before the King at White-hall. THE TWELFTH SERMON.

IF any here present bee of so dainty eares, and delicate a palate, that wholesome meat will not downe with them, unlesse it bee curiously dressed by art, and ex­quisitely dished, and set forth with variety of costly sawces; I desire them to consider that there may bee intemperancy in the eare as well as the taste, and that to feede such a luxurious humour in them, were a kind of breach of the holy Fast wee now keep. Where beautifull pictures, and sacred imagery are most in use (I should say abuse) I meane in the Church of Rome, during the whole time of Lent, sad P. Moul. cont. Coeffet p. 2. curtaines, and darke vailes are drawn before them: and in like maner our divine Apelles's, if they have any rare and eminent piece for stuffe as well as workmanship by them, they may doe well to vaile or shadow them at this season, that art may sympa­thize with religion, and humane learning, as it were, put on blacks, when di­vine puts on sacke cloth. For my selfe, I need make no other Apology to you than the Apostle doth to the Corinthians, in my text. The words which I handle are a warrant for the plaine handling thereof; for what is I deter­mined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified, but in effect to say, I Chrys. in Gen. orat. 41. [...]. purposed not to make any banquet, I bid you to no feast, I have provided you but one dish of meate, the Lambe of God, and it but ordinarily dressed, broached upon the Crosse, that is, Jesus Christ, and him crucified?

Too exact division hath the same inconvenience with [...]uinct. instit. orat. l. 4. Id viti um habet nimia quod nulla divisio, confu­so simile est quicquid in p [...]lverem us (que) secatur, deinde cum fecerunt multas parti [...]u­las in eandem incidant ob­scuritatem, con­tra quam in­venta partitio est. The division. want of divisi­on: for it breedeth confusion, which it should prevent, and troubleth the memory, which it should helpe and ease. As to handle severall parts with­out premising a convenient partition, is to teare asunder, and not to carve up: so on the contrary, over-curiously to divide upon division, and sub-di­vide sub-divisions, is to crumble not breake the bread of life; or as Fabius speaketh, frusta facere, non membra, that is, to mince, and not (as the Apo­stle requireth) rightly to divide the word of truth. May it please you there­fore to goe along with me through the few parts of this facile and passa­b [...]le division.

• 1 The profession of the Apostle, I determined to know.
• 2 The object of his profession,
  • positively, Jesus Christ.
  • privatively, nothing but him.
• 3 The condition of the object, And him crucified.

As the Zab lib. de tri­b [...] pr [...]agnitis. Logicians in the subjects of all sciences distinguish rem conside­ratam, & modum considerandi; the matter considerable, which they call the materiall object, and the manner of considering it, which they call the formall: as in Physick the res considerata, or material object, is corpus huma­num mans body, the modus considerandi, or formall object, is quá sanabile, as curable: in Musick the res considerata is numerus, number, the modus con­siderandi is quá sonorus as it is found in sounds, and serveth to harmony: So here the res considerata, the thing, or rather person to bee considered is Jesus Christ; the modus considerandi manner of considering him, is quà cru­cifixus, as crucified. The best nurture is in the schoole of the crosse, but then this crosse must bee the crosse of Christ Jesus, and Christ Jesus must bee knowne, and lastly this knowledge must bee desired, or resolved to bee got.

1 Nothing is more to bee desired than knowledge, I desire, or have de­termined to know.

2 No knowledge more to be desired than of Jesus Christ, Nothing but Jesus Christ.

3 Nothing of Jesus Christ is more to bee desired to bee knowne, than that hee was crucified, And him crucified. Of all things knowledge is most to be set by, for Joh. 17.3. this is life eternall to know thee to be very God, and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ. Of all knowledge this of Christ is most excel­lent, Phil. 3 8. for I account, saith the Apostle, all things as dung in comparison of the knowledge of Christ. Of all Christian knowledge this of the crosse is most comfortable; for Gal. 6.14. God forbid, saith hee, that I should rejoice in any thing save in the crosse of Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. These points I shall cleare to your understanding, and presse upon your devout affections, Gods grace assisting, your patience en­couraging, and the time permitting me.

I determined to know nothing among you, &c. No people under the cope of heaven were more desirous of knowledge, or capable of a greater mea­sure thereof, than the Corinthians, that were Pupilla Graeciae, the apple of Greece, the eye of the world; and none more furnished with divine and hu­mane [Page 147] knowledge than my Apostle, whose portion, especially of acquired learning, was like to Benjamins (of whose tribe hee was) Gen. 43.34. five times grea­ter than his brethren. [...] Eras. Adag. Yet this every way accomplisht Doctor of the Gen­tiles, so inriched with all knowledge, at Corinth the prime City of Greece, the Royall Exchange (if I may so speake) of all arts and sciences, whither men of ordinary ranke and quality might not easily have accesse; among these who heard of Saint Paul, that hee had beene 2 Cor. 12.2. rapt up into the third heaven, and expected that hee should utter unto them what hee saw and heard there, hee will bee knowne to know nothing save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. All that hee tooke up at Gamaliels feet hee layed downe at Christs; hee buried his jewels of Egypt which cost him so deare, under the wood of the crosse, as Jacob did Labans idolls Gen. 35.4. under the oake at Si­chem. Hee not onely under-valueth them in respect, but maketh no rec­koning of them.

I esteeme nothing of any, nor will bee esteemed for any knowledge, save of Jesus Christ and him crucified. The coherence. Which words are spoken by the Apostle here by way of apology to certaine of the Corinthians, who, prepossessed with the false Apostles, making great shew of learning and eloquence, could not away with the Apostles plainer and simpler kinde of teaching, without ostentation of art or mixture of secular learning. To these hee ad­dresseth himselfe after this manner, ver. 1. And I, brethren, when I came un­to you, came not with excellency of words, or wisedome, declaring unto you the testimony of God: For I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. My speech, and my preaching was not with en­ticing words of mans wisedome, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power, that your faith might not stand in the wisedome of man, but in the power of God. In effect he confesseth that his words were not so pickt, The sense. his phrase so choice, his composition so smooth, his sentences so fluent, his cadences so sweet, his language so polite, his stile so flourishing, or his lines so strong, as were those of the false Apostles, who with their puffed up eloquence and word wisedome sought to bring into contempt the simplicity of the Gospell. ‘I seeke not, saith hee (in effect) to approve my doctrine unto you by Tropes of Rhetorike, or Syllogismes of Logicke, or Axiomes of Philosophy, but by the evidence of the Spirit. I professe no science among you but the science of the crosse: and surely the plainest and sim­plest method and manner of teaching best fitteth it. Were it decent and agreeable, thinke you, to treat of God his emptying himselfe in swelling words? to speake of Christ his abasing himselfe in a lofty stile? to dis­course sweetly upon gall and vinegar? to beset nailes and thornes with flowers of Rhetoricke? and to bring our Saviour in pompe of words and vaine-glorious pageants of art to his crosse? Let them make ostentation of their learning and eloquence who preach themselves; I that am a Mi­nister of Christ and called to preach him, make conscience to adde any thing of mine owne that may detract from him, or any way obscure the doctrine of the Gospell.’