MY chardge is to blesse, a worke bet­ter beseeming the mouth of a Patri­arke, or some one of the ancient pro­phets, for the lesse is blest by the better. Hebr. 7. 7. I haue therfore chosen to blesse by the mouth of Dauid, or rather by the Spi­rit of God mouing and tuning the harpe of Dauid. And whence should I rather draw my blessing, then from that Psalme (of all others) the promp­tuary [Page 2] and store-house of all blessing? from euery corner wherof, as from the mount Garizim, a blessing resoun­deth. Deu. 27. 12. It blesseth in the first verse; Blessed are they that feare the Lord: bles­seth in the second; O well to thee, and happy shalt thou bee: blesseth in the fourth; Loe, thus shall the man be blessed: blesseth in the fifth; The Lord from out of Sion shall blesse thee: and concludeth in the last with that which concludeth and compendiateth all blessing, peace vpon Israel. The subiect of all this blessing is Timentes Dominum, they that fedre the Lord. See how the Lord lo­ueth the man that feareth him. In himselfe, his wife, his children, his po­sterity, in the Church, the City, the whole common-wealth, in all that belongeth vnto him, or that he be­longeth vnto. Confine him within himselfe, take him as a single person; Thou shalt eat the labours &c. Diuide him into his other halfe; Thy wife shall be &c. Multiply him into his issue; [Page 3] Thy children like the Oliue branches. Eter­nize him in his race; Thou shalt see thy childrens children. Engraffe him into the Church; The Lord out of Sion shall blesse thee. Bestow him in the City; Thou shalt see the wealth of Ierusalem. ranke him amongst the people of the whole kingdom; And peace vpon Israel. Whither in resolution, or composi­tion, or multiplication, or propaga­tion and succession, or the commu­nion of Saints, or corporation of Ci­tizens, or association into the state, he shall bee blessed throughout. You now see, it is canticum graduum or ascen­sionum; and you may adde, excellentia­rum, Title as the title goeth, that is, an ex­cellent song that ascendeth by de­grees.

Amongst other blessings of God, it blesseth this very blessing that wee haue in hand. It is [...], a Psalme that blesseth mariage.

I rest in the second branch of bles­sing; uxor tua sicut vitis &c. In which Diuision [Page 4] there are two parts. 1 The subiect, vxor tua, thy wife: 2 the attribute, sicut vitis, as a vine &c.

Vxor tua, may well be the subiect of Subiect. the proposition, for it is the subiect, the prior terminus, the [...], that is substantiall, fundamentall terme of all mankind, [...], the gate of entrance into liuing. Hence began the world; God buil­deth the woman (aedificat costam, finxit ho­minem: man was figmentum, woman aedificium, an artificiall building) and from the rafter or planke of this rib is the world built. Therfore was Heua called mater viuentium, the mother of the liuing; quia mortali generei immortalitatem parit, she is the meanes to continue a kind of immortalitie amongst the mortall sonnes of men. No sooner was man made, but presently also a woman; (not animal oc­casionatum, a creature vpon occasion, nor mas laesus, a male with maime and imperfection, (philosophy speaketh too dully:) but out of the counsel and [Page 5] skill and workemanship of almighty God; aedificat, a goodly frame:) and no sooner a woman, but presently a wife. So that man, and woman, and wife are simul tempore, of the same standing; and the first vocation of man was ma­ritari, to be an husband. Mulier propter virum, The woman was made for the man to be his wife: so that, according to the Hebrew prouerb, Cui non est vxor, is non est vir, A man without a wife is not a man. Vir and vxor, man and wife, are primum par, fundamentum parium, the first originall match of all others. All other couples and paires, as father and sonne, maister and ser­uant, king and subiect come out of this paire. The beginning of Fami­lies, Cities, Countries, Continents, the whole habitable world, the militant, yea and triumphant Church, mater matris Ecclesiae, the mother of the mo­ther Church, of no small part of the kingdome of heauen, is vxor tua, this subiect of my text, out of this combi­nation [Page 6] it all springeth. No marriage, no men; no marriage, no saints. The wife is the mother of virgins that are no wiues; ( Laudo connubium quia generat virgines, saith Hierome [...]) no generation, no regeneration; no multiplying beneath, no multiplying aboue; no filling the earth, not so much filling the heauens; if not filij seculi, neither will there be filij coeli.

The parcels in vxor tua, are two, Subdiuision. societas, society, fellowship, wife; and proprietas, propriety without copart­nership, Thy wife. First, relation, wife, she must be the wife of an husband. Secondly, possession, thy wife, shee must belong to that husband alone. The one, the margarite or pearle, wife; the other, the cabbinet or arke to keepe this Iewell.

I am sure I abuse not my Wife. termes. For the spirit of GOD by the mouthes of holy men hath sty­led hir donum, and bonum, and Coro­nam, and gaudium, and gratiam super [Page 7] gratiam, a iewell of singular estimati­on. The image and inscription she beareth, is donum dei, The gift of God. She is indeed Gods gift, the first and best that GOD gaue to man, his xenium, new-yeares, new-worlds gift. Adduxit Deus, GOD the pronubus, Gen. 2. 22. praesul Coniugij as Ambrose calleth him, the author of marriage, presen­ted the man with this gift, brought it as his present: the riches of the whole earth yeelded not the like. Cast this pearle before swine, let Manichees, and Marcionites, and Encratites, and Antichrists, those that preferre the doctrines of men, the doctrines of Deuils, before the sacred ordinance of GOD, judge of it; and they will tread it vnder their feete, and bur­then it with whole wagons and cart­lodes of reproches. I stay not to con­fute them. Onely I say with Saint Augustine, Bonum nuptiarum semper est bonum, The good of marriage from the beginning of the world euer was [Page 8] and to the end shalbe good. Ante peccatum, adofficium; post peccatum, ad of­ficium & remedium. Before sin, for the Hag. Card. duty of procreation and comfort of life; after sin, both for that duty, and further for a remedy. And albeit foelicior coelibatus, single life may be more happy in some respects; yet ma­trimonium tutius, marriage is more safe. Or to speake in the highest straine, in virginitate culmen, virginity may haue the toppe of honor; in Connubio not Crimen, there is no fault in matrimo­ny. Consider Moses and Elias, the one a married man, the other a virgin. Elias called downe fire from heauen, Moses obtained manna from heauen. Elias, auriga in aëre, was a wagoner in the aire, rode in a chariot, through the cloudes: Moses viator in mari, was a passenger, a trauayler through the red sea: GOD honored them both alike.

We haue found the treasure, wee Tqy wife. must adde the cabinet to keepe the [Page 9] the treasure. Thy wife: not vxor vestra, one woman to many men, against the doctrine of the Nicolaitans: not vxores tuae, many women to one man, against the encrochment of Lamech: not vxor tua & non tua, to take and leaue, put on & put off, as thou doest thy coat. Vxor tua, is as much to say, as tu & vxor, vxor & tu, no more, no fewer, no other: duo in carne vna, two in one flesh, not three, or fower; not mulier multivola, a woman that will Eccles. 9. haue many men, not mulier vni­uira, (which was Hieromes tearme of Hieromes time) a woman that must haue one man besides her husband. The like holdeth also for the man. For she that is not tua is aliena, extra­nea, Gen. 1. 27. a strange woman. Looke to the alpha. masculū & faeminā creauit eos, male and female created he them. not mas­culum & masculum, nor faeminam & fae­minam, both males, or both females, for then had there been no procreation; not masculum & faeminas, nor faeminam [Page 10] & masculos, much lesse scortatorem & scortum, those that should liue in vn­cleannesse together. Vnus, vnam, vni: One God hath ordeined one woman to one man. Let the subiect be well weighed, uxor tua, that is, thou and thy wife; & sustinebitis potius complexus ursorum & draconum, you will rather endure the embracings of beeres and dragons then of strange flesh. I adde no more, but lament our times. Quo modo quos coniunxit Ecclesia, disiunxit ca­mera? Bern. how are we ioyned together in the face of the Church, and disioyned in priuate chambers? more truly, quo modo, quos coniunxit Deus, disiunxit dia­bolus? how doth the Lord ioyne vs and the deuill seuer vs? I haue done with the subiect.

Sicut vitis abundans. If there were 2 Attribute nothing more then sicut, that word Sicut alone might suffice. The woman at hir first creation was made to bee a sicut. Sicut is of similitude, so is a wo­man. Looke backe to the first institu­tion, [Page 11] Faciamus adiutorium (not mancipi­um, she is not a seruant, nor iumentum, though iumenta our cattle in their kinde bee adiumenta infirmitatis nostrae, helpes to our wants,) but sustentacu­lum, fulcrum, adminiculum, a support or stay. Of what quality? simile sui, like to himselfe: There is the sicut. Simile? what is that? proportionatum, that hol­deth proportion of sexe for genera­tion: that is not all, but simile, as like as bone may bee to bone, flesh to flesh, ISHA to ISH, that is woman to man. Will you haue a fuller com­mentary? Simile sui, that which is con­tra ipsum, not contrary, but è regione, face to face, as the Angels stood ouer the mercy-seat; coram ipso, as a glasse that reflecteth and returneth vpon a man his owne image, that is, quasi alter ipse, ipse coram se, an other selfe, him selfe before himselfe. Or simile, that is, secundùm, iuxta, penes, propè, proximè, ad manum, the next of all others, and at hand to minister vnto him whatso­euer [Page 12] is wanting. This is that sicut, which I speake of. A sicut in mutuall loue, in naturall affection, in the com­munion of woe, (for they are [...], yokefellowes; and must remember that bonum coniugium, sed à iugo tractum, in marriage is an yoke) in the partici­pation of good things, in society of offices, in coniugall faith, indissoluble couenant, (that is particeps foederis) in Mal. 2. 14. parity of religion. They must bee [...], coheires of 1. Pet. 3. 7. the same grace. Si acceperit Iacob vxo­rem de filiabus Heth, vt quid mihi vita? If Iacob take a wife of the daughters Gen. 27. 46. of Heth, what auaileth it me to liue? Numquid non est in filiabus fratrum tuo­rum Iud. 14, 3. & in omni populo tuo mulier? Is there never a wife amongst the daughters of thy brethren, and amongst all thy people? the one the voice of Rebecca, the other of the parents of Sampson. Nulla arbor praeter vetitam? Is there no tree but the forbidden tree? No frend and companion of the life of man [Page 13] but a foe? no helper but a tempter and moouer to euill? It is a deuise of the Rabbins, but the morall is good, that in the names of ISH and ISHA, is included IAH the name of God; and that if you take out [...] and [...], jod and He, whereof that name consist­eth, there remaineth nothing but [...] ignis, ignis, the fire of dissen­sion and brawle, which burneth and consumeth to the fire of hell. The meaning is, that God must be present at the ioyning of man and woman, that they must marry in Domino, in the Lord; not in Pluto the God of ri­ches, nor in Venere, the goddesse of lust: and Christ must bee a bidden guest, or else the wine of this vine will bee turned into water, into vine­gar, into the wine of dragons. The sonnes of God and daughters of men ioy­ned together, bring forth Nephilim a monstrous and mishapen genera­tion.

There is not, neither can be such a [Page 14] sicut vpon earth, as betwixt man and wife; where there are duo in carne vna, [...], one as it were in body and soule, as a stocke and a graffe make but one tree. Nor is there any image to represent this sicut, but that which the Apostle speaketh of, Eph. 5. 25. sicut Christus Ecclesiam, as Christ loued his Church. So that I may truly say, [...]. He that neuer had expe­rience of wife and children, neuer tasted what the truest and natiuest kindnesse was.

Happy, thrice happy these that keepe this bond without breach. Amicus & socius commodè conueniunt, sed Eccl. 40. 23 vtrum (que) antecessit vxor iuncta viro. A freind and a companion come toge­ther at an opportunitie, but aboue them both is a wife with her hus­band. And the whole infelicity of [Page 15] marriage for the most part, that Iliade of euils which accompanieth some matches, is when this sicut is wanting; when men choose not similes their likes, when matches are made of such as match not; for they either marry by their eies for beauty, or by their fingers ends for mony, or by their eares vppon hearesay, taking their wiues vpon trust. And then in all such matches, sicut is turned into secus, all goeth amisse, planets are ioyned to­gether of vnhappy coniunction, and malignant are the effects which issue from them. But I must not rest here. I must seeke my patterne from a­broade, from some of the parts of na­ture. where so fitly as amongst trees? Sicut Uitis. A tree and a man or a woman how neerely doe they symbolize? The roote of the tree, is the mouth to conuey in nourishment; the pith or heart of the tree, is the matrice, belly, or bowels; the knots, the nerues; the fissures of concauities, the [...]eines; the [Page 16] rinde, the skinne; the boughes, the armes and limmes; the sprigges, the fingers; the leaues, the haire; the fruit, vnlesse the tree bee barren, the children. There is yet a neerer affi­nity. A tree is a type not onely of man or woman, but of matrimony. Plants are distinguished, say the writers of nature, by males and fe­males, and haue their plaine distin­ctiue notes of either sexe: insomuch that if the leaues of the male and fe­male bee ioyned together, cohaerebunt invicem & vix separari possint, you can hardly put them asunder. Yea, if the winde doe but carry the sent of the male to the female, citiùs matur abitur eius fructus, the fruit thereof will soo­ner ripen. We haue then found out sicut, our sampler among trees. But what may that tree be? Not a bram­ble; it is too sharpe, too full of pric­kles: not an oke; it is too sturdy. A woman was made of a bone, and but one bone, ne esset ossea, that she might [Page 17] not be too bony: not a Cedar, it is too high. hir place is a middle and indif­ferent place, as we shall see heereafter. But what then? Vitis, quia invitat ad vuas (my grammer telleth mee;) a vine, which hath her name of invitation to the fruit thereof.

Surely a vine is a noble plant, and an excellent embleme of a wife. First, there is nothing more flexible and tractable: you may bow it which way you will. So is it the wisedome of a woman matrimonij legibus obtemperare, to conforme hir selfe to the rules of hir husband. Secondly, nothing more tender and sensible of a wrong: if you cut it, it will weepe and bleede it selfe to death. Thirdly, it yeeldeth as faire a shadow and arbour of leaues as any tree, that there may bee refri­geriū, a refreshing to the wearied hus­band. When he commeth from his labour abroad, laetabitur sub vite sua, is his welcome home. Fourthly, the smell of the vine in the time of her [Page 18] flourishing driueth away serpents & venemous creatures: and the cogita­tion of a mans owne wife, seasoned with the feare of God, is a supersedeas and barre to all the temptations of Satan. The worst you can deeme of it, is, that it is fragile lignum, a fraile kinde of plant. Wherto serueth the arte of the husband man, I meane the wisedom of the husband, but to amend that infirmity, according to the rule of the Scripture, Let him awell 1. Pet. 3. 7. with the wife as with the weaker vessell [...], according to knowledge and dis­cretion? Lastly, all this is fully recom­pensed with the liquor and bloud of the grape, the sweet nectar and com­fort of life that floweth from it.

Sicut vitis. Will you be pleased to obserue by the way what a paradise and second garden of the Lord the wisdom of God planteth in Oeco­nomy, in the house and family of a married man: wherin there are two trees, as in that ancient garden, of [Page 19] principall note, the vine, and the oliue in the words following, that is, the wife and the children: the one as the tree of knowledge of good and euill (for I confesse both these are in marriage:) the other as the tree of life, for a man liueth in his children. Mortuus est & quasi non est mortuus, quia reliquit sibi si­milem: hee is dead and not dead, be­cause of his image left behind him.

The vine, and the oliue? Marke them well, their fruit is both alimentum, nu­triment, (wine comforteth his hart, & oyle giueth him a fresh and cheerfull countenance; hee shall speake freely with his enemies in the gate that is enuironed with children:) and medica­mentum, physicke; medicamentum Evan­gelicum, the physicke of that good Sa­maritan in the Gospell, wherein there was morsus & mollities, a corrodent and Greg. lenient, compunction and consola­tion; a [...], bitter-sweet. I mistake my selfe, there is nothing bitter, but rather [...], an oxymel, [Page 20] acetum mulsum, somwhat pleasant and somwhat tarte. At non est dimittendus favus propter aculeum, Loose not the hony for the sting of the bee, one said in this very case of marriage.

But of all the properties of a vine, Abundance I find my selfe restrained in my text to one alone, and that is fertility. Sicut vitis abundans; Abounding, with what? not stemmes, nor leaues, nor gemmes, nor the like; all that commeth short. Therefore they render it truly, fructi­fera, abounding with fruit, bearing in plenty fructum natiuitatis suae, the fruit of hir kinde. The blessing then of the vine in my text, is the fruit of the wombe, children: Liberi not spurij, freely and honestly borne, not an a­dulterous generation: semen Dei, a godly seed; vincula, pignora, bonds and pledges, for ratification of loue betweene man and woman. They are mentioned in the next words to my text, filij in circuitu mensae, children round about the table, satellitium filio­rum [Page 21] a gard, a garland, a wreath of children about the bord, as angeli in circuitu throni Dei, a garland of Angels about the throne of God, or stellae in circuitu poli arctici, a garland of starres about the North-pole.

The end of marriage is proles, issue. Therefore is it called matrimonium, be­cause they who are married pater & mater esse meditantur, propose to them­selues to become father and mother. To which end serue the prouerbes of the Hebrewes, Cui non sunt liberi, is non est aedificatus; and Cui non sunt liberi, is re­putatur tanquam mortuus: Hee is a man vnbuilt, and accompted as dead, who hath not children. Alcibiades asked Socrates how he could endure the skolding of Xantippe: Socrates asked him againe, how hee could endure glottientes gallinas, the noise of his hens. Because, saith Alcibiades, gallinae pa­riunt mihi pullos, my hennes hatch mee chickins. Socrates answered, At Xantippe parit mihi filios, Xantippe bear­eth [Page 22] mee▪ children, which maketh a­mends for all.

It is actio naturae, perfectum opus vi­uentium, the action of nature, and perfit worke of all that hath life, gene­rare, procreare sibi simile, to bring foorth their like. To leaue a seede behind, to preserue their species, to continue their name and posterity vpon earth, to represent and shadow in some sort immortality, by deriuing life from the root into the branches, from the father vnto the sonne, and sonnes sonnes in longinquum, as Dauid spake, 2. Sam. 7. 19 from one generation to an other for long time to come.

But the time of abounding and fructifying is not yet come. The voice Cant. 2. 12. of the turtle is not heard, nor the singing of birdes. Wee must awayte the spring season. Crescite & multiplicamini, is a blessing from him alone that hath the key of the wombe, and openeth where none can shut, shutteth where non can open. Meane time we sing [Page 23] the song of the Vine: many a cheere­full song may we sing hereafter of the oliue branches. Many a welcome mes­senger be blessed from God and man, for bringing vs tidings, a childe is borne. And as now the matter and ditty of our song is, vinea facta est in cornu filio olei, that is to say, in colle pingui, our Esa. 5. 1. vine is planted in a fat and fruitfull soile, husbanded and drest by the hand of God & man, so may the mat­ter and ditty of our song hereafter be; This Psalme was the Psalme for the day, be­ing the ninth day of the moneth, and for that morning seruice, wherein our Churches receiued the first publication of newes. Psal. 45. 6. Nati sunt tibi filij quos constituas principes super omnem terram, children are borne vnto thee whom thou maiest make princes ouer all lands. God grant the branches may be sutable to the vine: she commeth from a princely stocke, maiesty and soueraignty be euer their portion.

By the sides of thine house. How shall our vine abound, or prosper at all without a stay? Her manner is to grow vp by an help. Vae soli, quoniam si ceciderit, non habet sustentantem se. It is [Page 24] the weakest of all plantes, and must haue somewhat to sustaine it. There­fore the prime care of the husband­man is, when his vine is nubilis of ripe­nesse and groweth for marriage, (as the Poet describeth it,

to marry hir to a popler, or elme, or some other tree. Or in steed thereof he prouideth maceriam a wall, or per­gulam a frame, or capreolos shores to beare it vp. Solitude and celibate, a single monasticke life agreeth not to it.

The first thing then required, is, that it must be vitis pergulana or chara­cata, a vine by some stay. But what stay? It followeth in order; Latera domus, the sides of the house. Where there is a duplex vúi, a double site or position. First, the house, secondly the sides of the house.

The first position of a vine must 1 Domus. be by an house, not an hedge; the field, [Page 25] the high way, the market place, the street is no place for this vine. You remember Thamar and Dina; the one sitteth by the high-way-side, the other gaddeth in the fielde, both miscarry.

The station, kingdome, common­wealth of a woman is the house. She is [...], mistresse of the house; vbitu Caius, ego Caia, the husband maister, the wife mistresse. Therefore Phidias carued Venus treading vp­pon a tortuis, which is euer vnder her shell. The Tortuis and the Snaile are the proper hieroglyphicks of a good huswife, euer bearing hir house vpon her backe.

Prouided alwaies, that the house Domus tua. be domus tua, her husbands house; not the house of any other. Audi Psal. 45. 10. filia &c. Hearken ô daughter, encline thine eare, forget thy people and thy fathers house. Thus Sarah ( whose daughters yee 1. Pet. 3. 6. are if you doe well) followed Abraham from Vr to Gerar; Rebecca Isaac from [Page 26] Mesopotamia to Canaan; Sephorah Moses, and Mary (the mother of our blessed Sauiour) Ioseph, both of them into Egypt. It skilleth not where the house bee, so it be domus tua, the hus­bands house. She that is married by a significant word of art, ducitur, is car­ried and transported to an other habi­tation. And albeit the glory and splendor of the moone be in the fur­thest distance from the sunne▪ yet the greatest glory and grace of a woman, is when she is nearest to her husband. He is velamen oculorum, the vaile of her Gen. 20. 16. eies, she is not to looke to the right hand nor to the left, but forth-right vpon her husband.

The second vbi or situation of this 2 Latera domus. vine is the sides of the house. We haue found already that the vine is susten­taculum some kinde of stay and assi­stance to the house; 2. vmbraculum, an arbour or shade vnto it; now 3. it is propugnaculum, being spread vpon the sides of the house, a fense against [Page 27] the violence of the weather. Vbi non Eccl. 36. 25. est sepes, diripitur praedium, where no hedge is, there the possession is spoi­led. I am sure aboue all the rest, it is 4. ornamentum a beauty to the house, so you bestow it in the right place. And that is in lateribus, in the sides, not in fastigio the top, (the woman must not [...], beare rule; Mulier si pri­matum 1. Tim. 2. 12 habeat, contraria est viro suo:) not in pauimento, the floore of the house: Eccl. 25. 30 the one is to high, the other to low, but in a middle and equall place be­twixt both, that is, in lateribus, deuexis, declinationibus, the sides or descents of the house. The sonne of Sirach as­signeth her her right place, when she standeth vt lucerna splendens super cande­labrum Eccl. 26. 17 sanctum, as a bright candle vp­pon an holy candlesticke. Now no man setteth his candle vpon the top of his house; no man vppon the ground, but vpon the table, or the like conuenient roome. So must the place of the wife bee, honest and [Page 28] honorable befitting her condition.

If you call to minde, you shall finde that the place of the woman from her first creation was the sides of the house. 1 First you will not deny vnto mee, but that she was framed in the house. She was opus domesticum not peregrinum, a worke done at home not abroad. Not as the temple of Salomon was built; the materials whereof were fit­ted and prepared a farre of. The wo­man was built and fashioned in the house of her husband, out of his very essence and composition; and is some part of him. Secondly, when she 2 was thus made, she became not one of his moueables, to be parted and re­mooued from him; but was fixed to her house, adhaerebit vir vxori, the house and the vine must not be sundered. Thirdly, God so ordered the matter 3 betwixt them, that this adhaesion and agglutination of one to the other should be perpetuall. For by taking a bone from the man (who was nimiùm [Page 29] osseus, exceeded and was somewhat monstrous by one bone too much,) to strengthen the woman, & by put­ting flesh in steede thereof to mollifie the man, he made a sweete complexi­on and temper betwixt them, like harmony in musicke, for their amia­ble cohabitation. Fourthly, that bone 4 which God tooke from the man, was from out the midst of him. As Christ wrought saluation in medio terrae, so God made the woman e medio viri, out of the very midst of man. The species of the bone is exprest to be costa a rib, a bone of the side, not of the head, a woman is not domina the ru­ler; nor of any anterior part, she is not praelata preferred before the man; not a bone of the foote, she is not serua, an handmaid; nor of any hinder part, she is not post-posita, set behind the man; but a bone of the side, of a middle and indifferent part, to shew that she is socia a companion to the husband. For qui iunguntur lateribus, [Page 30] socij sunt, they that walke side to side, and cheeke to cheeke, walke as com­panions. Fiftly, I mightadde, a bone 5 from vnder the arme, to put the man in remembrance of protection & de­fense to the woman. Sixtly, a bone not 6 far from his heart, to put him in mind of dilection and loue to the woman. Lastly, a bone from the left side, to 7 put the woman in minde that by rea­son of her frailty and infirmity she standeth in need of both the one and the other, from her husband.

To conclude my discourse; if these things be duely examined, when man taketh a woman to wife, reparat latus suum, what doth he else, but re­member the maime that was some­times made in his side, & desireth to repaire it? repetit costam suam, he requi­reth and fetcheth backe the rib that was taken from him. And when the woman taketh an husband, shee is but ioyned againe to that side from which shee was first taken. Meane­while, [Page 31] if aches, or stiches, or plewri­sies, or other the like maladies befall the man by reason of his side; let him remember they came from himselfe, thence they had their beginning, and therefore with the more patience he ought to endure them.

Wee haue at length brought and Application. fastned our vine to the sides of her house. Viderunt oculi nostri, inviderunt alieni, Our eyes haue seene it done, though the eyes of many others haue maligned the doing; and we blesse those eyes of ours, that haue so long sitten and waited in the tabernacles of our heads, as to doe vs so acceptable a seruice. Let the day wherein it was done, be light and not darknesse; let God re gard it from aboue, & the light of his gratious countenance shine euer vp­on it. All the parts of our Land (almost of Christendome) haue beene full of rumors; the hearts of all the faithfull in the Land full of horror and mis­trust; I am sure the hearts of the Ie­suites [Page 32] are full of malice, the heads of the Iesuites full of deuise, the hands of the Iesuites full of practise, the bookes of the Iesuites full of principles and bloudy perswasions: yea, the tongue and actions of the Iesuites not voide of predictions and prognostications. But thrice blessed be the name of our gratious God, our vine is placed by the sides of her house, she is where she should be, vitis pergulana, a vine vpon her frame.

A vine, a most generous vine, of noble condition, the wine that flow­eth from her gladdeth the heart both of God and man: borne of a regall and re­ligious Iud. 9. 13. stemme;— Deus est in vtre­que parente. She grew in vineâ pa­cifici, Cant. 8. 11. in the vineyard of our Salo­mon: a branch of that true vine, Ioh. 15. 1. planted and drest by him that is there the true husbandman, comforted with the sunne and raine of his principall benedictions both from heauen and earth, and fitte to be [Page 33] transplanted hereafter in the fulnesse of her daies into the paradise of his glorious kingdome.

The sides of the house not vnanswer­able to the vine. It is not domus lateri­tia, but marmorea; not an house but a pallace, a princes house; not a pallace, but a sanctuary for piety & religion, a Gods house. So as our vine is not only vitis pergulana a vine vpon a frame or vitis parietaria a vine vpon a wall, but vitis Palatina, a vine ordained by God to grow vp by the sides of an illustri­ous Palatine.

The Lord vphold for euer & keepe from dilapidation and decay these sides of the house, and make them as an vnuanquishable fort against the im­pressions and assaults of all aduersary forces, that it neuer be heard of vpon the earth, Posuerunt eam in ruinam & aceruum lapidum, they haue laid this house in a ruine and an heape of stones; as impregnable as the tower of Dauid, Cuius fundamenta in montibus [Page 34] sanctis, the foundations whereof are vpon the two mountaines of the e­uerlasting might and mercy of God. Saluation be for euer the wals, and praise the Es. 60. 18. gates vnto this house. I am sure it is founded vpon the rocke, the true faith and profession of the sauing bloud of Christ; the sandes of the doctrines of men, and quagmires and bogges of Romish superstition this house was ne­uer acquainted with. Neuer then may the windes and tempests of for­raine persequutions infest, neuer the raine and flouds of domesticall dis­sension disquiet this house, neuer may the gates of hell it selfe, neither that ne­thermost of the deuill and his angels, neither this hell vpon earth, the pra­ctises and complots of Iesuites and their confederates preuaile against it.

And the Lord likewise blesse the vine by the sides of this house; the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush euer Deu. 33. 16 dwell in this vine, that the sunne doe not burne her by day, nor the moone [Page 35] by night; that she be not beaten with the wether of aduersitie, nor blasted with the breath of sicknes, nor nipt with the frost of an vntimely death: that she may take roote in an honourable peo­ple, Eccl. 24. 14. a portion of the Lords inheritance, and be set vp as a Cedar in Libanus, as a Cypresse vpon the mountaines of Hermon, as a Palme-tree in Cades, and as a rose-tree in Iericho; and as a terebinth stretch forth her branches, and those branches may be the branches of honor and grace. How doe the wordes of the 80. Psalme from the 8. verse fitte my purpose throughout? Vineam de Aegypto transtu­listi &c. Thou art remoouing a vine out of England. All the blessings of God pronounced vpon that vine, fall vpon the head of this. And the bles­sing vpon Sara be added vnto them, that she may be the mother of nations, Gen. 17. 16. and kings of the people may come of her: and the blessing vpon Rebecca make vp the measure, Grow into thousand thou­sands, Gen. 24. 60. and thy seed possesse the gate of thine [Page 36] enemies. And finally the Lord blesse the roote, (both the one and the other) that bare this vine, indeed the roote that beareth vs all, whereof we say daily, Vnder his shadow we shall be safe. The flowre of Iesse cause them long to flourish and prosper amongst vs. O my beloued brethren, if euer there were a time of praiers and sup­plications for our selues, for all men, especially for kings, if euer for kings, especially for kings that adore not the beast, especially that king that hath an­gred and prouoked the beast by fighting against him, especially that beast that is singularis fera, the beast of Psal. 80. 13. beasts, the wild boare of the forrest, wilder then the wildernesse it selfe, that will not be held nor emparked within any lawes or limits of God or man, that breaketh forth into an vnbounded soueraignty and dominion ouer all the princes and nations of the earth: these are they, Exurge Deus iudica Psal. 74. 22. caussam tuam, Arise ô Lord and auenge [Page 37] thine owne cause. Giue not the soule of thy turtle-doue vnto the multitude of thine ene­mies, nor into the handes of this beast. Thinke vpon thy couenant, and forget not the voice of thine enemies. The earth is full of darkenesse and of cruell habitations: and the presumption of them that hate thee, encreaseth daily more and more. Take vs these foxes, these little foxes that destroy this vine. Priests, I meane, and their proselytes, legions of recusants with­in this kingdome, neglect them not. They digge at the very root of soue­raignty and regality, the allegiance of your subiects: they rob you of the hearts of your people. The more proselytes to Rome, the more aliants from England. The gaine of the Pope, is the losse of the King. Recu­sants of our Churches for the present, hereafter they will proue recusants of their soueraigne; Nolumus hunc regna­re super nos. Nay, recusants now in their wane, when their strength is not fully ripened; they will proue rebel­lants [Page 38] in their full moone. Nae ista vo­bis mansuetudo & patientia, si illi arma ce­perint, in miseriam vertet. But whatso­euer be done with the foxes, yet from the teeth of that efferous beast, from the tuske of the wild bore, from the sucking and drawing of Romish horse-leaches, from the bloud-thirsty dropsie of Antichrist and his adhe­rents, from the cursed Assasinates of Iesuites and their darke disciples, from the peremptory knife of Po­pish, worse then paganish, pruners, ô thou that art the root & generation of Dauid preserue our root and all his ge­neration, together with his most glo­rious stemme. And the vine that is now parting from them, and the sweete oliue branch, that shooteth vp vnder them, the eye of thy fatherly pro­uidence euer watch ouer them. Be they all as deare vnto thee as the ap­ple of thine owne eye; as neare as the ring that the bride weareth vpon her finger: and as thou hast married this [Page 39] vine, so marry them all vnto thy selfe in euerlasting faithfulnes & compas­sion. Let all the miscreants, repro­bates, Rauaillacs vpon the face of the earth receiue their prohibition and charge from thy mouth, Touch not mine annointed ones, and doe my cho­sen no harme. And let all that heare mee this day (thousands and milli­ons that heare mee not doe no lesse) call heauen and earth to witnesse, that from the ground of their hearts, in singlenes and vprightnes of soule, they say and redouble in the eares of God & his holy Angels, Amen,

Amen.